Athletics swept by Padres, fall 5-4 in series finale

Losing on a walk off home run always stings

The Athletics dropped the series finale to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday afternoon by a 5-4 final, getting swept out of town off a walk-off homer on a hot day in Southern California.

Harris shows up again

Left-hander Hogan Harris got the ball to get things rolling today. Harris had been solid in two straight starts (his first two of the year) so the hope coming into today was that those two performances weren’t just a mirage.

Well it sure seems like he’s figured things out. Today he continued his hot streak against a Padre team that has been one of the best hitting teams in the NL this season. Over the course of five innings Harris only made two mistakes, serving up two separate solo home runs in the second and fifth innings. Other than that Harris was rolling today, allowing just two other singles and a walk while striking out five Padres batters. Another great outing from Harris, who has now put together three straight solid starts for the club since joining the starting rotation. It’s looking like Harris will be staying in the rotation for the foreseeable future, a boost to a starting rotation that’s dealt with a ton of injuries already this season.

Offense does enough

The lineup was facing right-hander Michael King today. King, who was a return piece for outfielder Juan Soto this off-season, has made his new team happy as he entered today with a sub-4 ERA in 13 starts for San Diego. Today he kept Oakland in check over the first five innings today, yielding just two walks and two singles over the first half of the game today. They also struck out an unsightly 12 times against King. They didn’t have much of an answer for him.

That is, until the sixth rolled around. Having collected a dozen strikeouts King’s pitch count was pretty high and he was starting to wear down. The Athletics opened the sixth with back-to-back singles against King, which chased him from the game. Facing the first bullpen arm of the day, Tyler Soderstrom swatted an RBI single to put the A’s on the board:

That wasn’t all. Next up was Shea Langeliers, who followed Soderstrom’s hit with an RBI knock of his own:

Suddenly this game was tied. And they still weren’t done! Lefty slugger Seth Brown got in on the action too, albeit in an unlikely way:

That would be it for the inning but after three runs scored the Green & Gold were in front.

The A’s added another insurance run in the eighth that came at a huge time. You can thank Zack Gelof for the boost this time:

Bullpen gives it up

After taking a 2-run late lead, it was now in the hands of the relief corps. The late inning arms for the Athletics have been superb this season but not so much today. Right-hander Lucas Erceg, who was only just activated off the IL yesterday, come on for the bottom of the eighth. His return didn’t go smoothly though as he allowed a game-tying 2-run home run to Padres cleanup hitter Donovan Solano. Not a great sign from someone coming back from a forearm injury.

Tie game heading into the ninth. Oakland couldn’t manage to score against San Diego closer Robert Suarez. With Mason Miller entering the game most fans thought this game was destined for extras. That would not be the case today though as Miller showed he is mortal. On the first pitch to the second batter, he served up a walk-off home run, ending this game, giving Miller the loss and ending the series getting swept. Ugh.

Not a great day. It’s always tough getting swept but the club was only a few more batters away from escaping Southern California with a win. Instead we get swept and head out of town with tails tucked between our legs. On the bright side Hogan Harris continued his hot streak and the bats showed signs of life with 10 hits. Take the wins where you can.

The club has no time to get down on themselves. They’re already on their way to Minnesota where the Twins are preparing to host the squad for a 3-game series. Righty Luis Medina is set for his third start of the year, and he’ll be opposed by Twins starter Joe Ryan. Could be a good pitching matchup!