A’s squander chances in 1-0 loss

Oakland was held scoreless for the third time in just seven games this season.

Another day, another zero.

Despite Ross Stripling’s best efforts, the Oakland Athletics were beaten once again and swept by the Boston Red Sox. Stripling spun 7 strong inning of one-run ball for the A’s, the best they could hope for from the 34-year-old righty, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the offense’s lack of execution.

To their credit, the offense did muster 8 hits and 3 walks, so they got enough players on base to score some runs. But every time they were in position to strike, no one was around to deliver the punch. The most brutal example was in the bottom of the 5th inning when the Tyler Nevin, Nick Allen, and Ryan Noda delivered a trio of singles, the last of which was a big break for the A’s as Noda’s half-swing dribbled the ball slowly to no man’s land near third base.

With one out, Oakland just needed to avoid the double play to keep the chance to score alive. Lo and behold, Zack Gelof bounced a Nick Pivetta sweeper right to shortstop, perfect positioning for a textbook double play. The A’s squandered their best chance to do damage that inning and followed up with further opportunity squandering in the 8th and 9th innings.

On the bright side, the team’s at-bats — at least in non-clutch situations — seem to be improving. Pivetta, coming off a dominant performance against Seattle, was no slouch of an opponent and the A’s were able to knock him out as soon as he came out for the 6th. The bullpen also pitched well behind Stripling, with T.J. McFarland and Michael Kelly combining for a couple of scoreless innings. Kelly, in particular, was impressive as he went 3-up, 3-down with a couple of strikeouts.

The A’s have now been held scoreless three times out of seven and haven’t proven at all that their offense has improved, despite being a year older. There are obviously many weeks and months left to get there but it’s not a very inspiring start. Oakland is now 1-6 with a much-needed off-day tomorrow to reset expectations. Play will resume on Friday against the 4-0 Detroit Tigers.