Athletics unable to sweep Royals despite Gelof’s third straight game with homer
OAKLAND — Zack Gelof homered for a third straight game, but Thursday’s game-tying crusher to center field wasn’t enough to deliver the A’s a third straight win and a series sweep of the Kansas City Royals.
The Royals used a pair of Freddy Fermin home runs and an eighth-inning solo shot from Bobby Witt Jr. to down the A’s 3-2 before a Coliseum crowd of 8,753 on Teacher Appreciation Day.
“It’s less about almost sweeping and more that we won a series against a quality team,” Gelof said. “Even when we’re losing, we’re in every game.”
The A’s were vying for their second sweep of the season, the other coming here May 1 against the Pittsburgh Pirates amid a six-game win streak. Both the A’s (28-49) and Royals (42-34) entered this game having lost eight of 10.
Oakland’s offense looked bleak before finally getting to Royals’ starter Seth Lugo in the seventh. That rally peaked once Gelof barreled a 422-foot shot off the center field backdrop to tie the score at 2.
Gelof couldn’t recall if he’d ever before homered in three straight big-league games, but he’s done so now, and he’s used the same bat on each mighty swing. He homered in four straight games last summer at Triple-A Las Vegas, and he can try matching that feat Friday night when the A’s open a three-game series against Minnesota.
“He continues to work, to believe in the process that we’ve started with him in making changes to the swing, and he’s starting to see the results,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “That’s a great sign for a young player to have dealt with adversity at the start of the year.”
Gelof has raised his batting average to .202 by virtue of a 15-game stretch that’s seen him go 14-of-53 (.264) with five home runs and 10 RBI.
Gelof got one more at-bat before this game was over, only to get called out on strikes in the ninth, after Lawrence Butler reached on an error to start a last-ditch comeback. A’s catcher Kyle McCann got thrown out for arguing from the dugout after Gelof’s strikeout.
“If we get another pitch for Zack, maybe we get a different result,” Kotsay said.
A comeback attempt still ensued. Pinch-hitter Shea Langeliers singled, Daz Cameron flew out to move Butler to third, then Max Scheumann flew out to end the A’s bid for a third straight twin.
The Royals had reclaimed the lead when Witt led off the eighth and took a Vinny Nittoli cutter for a 422-foot ride into the left-field bleachers. Kansas City’s previous two runs came on solo homers from Fermin off A’s starter Mitch Spence, in the second and fourth innings. Fermin, the Royals’ designated hitter, blasted Spence’s pitches well over the left-field wall (398 and 391 feet, respectively).
“Obviously if you throw some pitches right down the middle in the big leagues, they’re going to get knocked around a little bit, so I tip my cap to him,” said Spence, who has allowed just four home runs over 57 innings prior to this outing.
Spence yielded just two runs, six hits and one walk over six innings. His seventh and final strikeout came on pitch No. 98, and it stranded two runners. None of those strikeouts came on a pitch faster than 92.7 mph, and his first strikeout was of Witt in the first to inspire confidence.
Lugo pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings before Gelof’s home run wiped out any chance of the Royals’ ace collecting a majors-leading 11th win this season. Lugo had struck out Nos. 4 and 5 batters Brent Rooker and Tyler Soderstrom before Butler ripped a first-pitch double down the right-field line, and Gelof followed with his eighth home run this season. The A’s tried to take the lead, only for Kyle McCann to get thrown out at home trying to score from first on pinch-hitter Abraham Toro’s double into the right-field corner.
The A’s grounded into three double plays over the first four innings to remain scoreless,
The A’s threatened to score in the sixth, but Lugo got Miguel Andjuar, the A’s hottest hitter, to fly out and thus strand two runners. The A’s again stranded two runners in the eighth, but only after Schuemann led off with a walk and got picked off at first base.
“We gave away one out on the bases today could be costly, and those are the little things and the details that we talk about,” said Kotsay, who otherwise called it a “great series for us” after an 0-7 road trip.
NOTES: The A’s next host the Minnesota Twins, who swept their four-game series last weekend in Minneapolis. The series’ projected starting pitchers: Friday, 6:40 p.m. — the A’s Joey Estes (2-2, 5.97 ERA) vs. the Twins’ Chris Paddack (5-3, 5.25); Saturday, 1:07 p.m. — JP Sears (4-6, 4.25) vs. Bailey Ober (6-4, 4.81); Sunday, 1:07 p.m. — Hogan Harris (1-0, 2.37) vs. Pablo Lopez (6-6, 5.63). … Fans displayed four banners from the right-field bleachers, those reading: “SELL; SELL, FISHER; GENERATIONAL ROBBERY; NO FANS LIKE OAKLAND FANS.” … Throwing out the first pitch was Monica McCarty in honor of her late husband, David, a former Stanford star whose professional career included stints with the A’s and Giants. McCarty passed away April 19 at the age of 54 due to a cardiac event in Oakland, as announced that day by the Boston Red Sox, for whom he finished his playing career in 2003-05.