A’s drop 7th straight, fall to Twins 8-4

Nothing can go right for the team right now

For the seventh straight game and the 18th time in 19 tries, the Athletics lost a baseball game. Tonight’s opponent, the Minnesota Twins, didn’t even give the home team the courtesy of having a lead all game as they beat the A’s 10-4 to begin a 4-game series between these two clubs.

Sevy gets hit hard early

Righty Luis Severino got the call for the A’s tonight hoping to earn his second win of the season. He’d gone seven straight starts without a win and even fans who know that statistic doesn’t matter were starting to clamor for him to get his second with the club.

The game started well enough for the 31-year-old but things soon unraveled in the second inning. Six Twins hits and a hit batter brought in six runs for Minnesota, putting Severino and the A’s in a deep early hole they’d have to climb out of.

Things quieted down from there for a while from the Athletics’ starting pitcher. He’d go on to retire the next three frames in order, looking like a brand new pitcher after that meltdown of a second inning.

Athletics claw back

Looking to pick up their starting pitcher, the Athletics offense got to work in the third inning against Twins ace Joe Ryan. Right fielder Lawrence Butler got it started with a walk, Jacob Wilson followed with his 13th double of the year and Brent Rooker hit a comebacker that Ryan wasn’t able to field cleanly enough to nab a sliding Butler at home. And just like that the A’s were on the board,

It wouldn’t take long to continue the comeback. Two more singles against Ryan quickly brought Butler back up to the plate and he snuck a fastball over the center field wall for a three-run home run to suddenly make this a game:

That was Butler’s ninth blast of the year but it would also end up being as close as the Athletics would get tonight. Ryan would escape a bases-loaded jam in his fifth and final inning of work before making way to one of the best bullpens in baseball this year. In four innings the Twins didn’t allow any sort of rally or comeback attempt, snuffing out anything the A’s could even try to get going.

Twins seal it

Hoping to squeeze one more inning out of Severino, manager Mark Kotsay elected to send him out there to start the sixth when he was clearly near the end of his rope. The results weren’t surprising as Kotsay again mismanaged Severino, allowing him to stay in way longer than he needed. In that sixth inning Sevy got the first two outs before two hits, a walk, and then another hit to give the Twins an extra cushion in the run department. Kotsay finally yanked Sevy with one out to go and a runner still on.

• Luis Severino: 5 ²⁄₃ IP, 9 H, 8 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 97 pitches

Another disaster start from Severino, which is now becoming less and less shocking. Tonight marked the fifth time this season he’s allowed more than four runs in a start and the second time he’s allowed eight. Take out those two absolute meltdowns and his bottom line stats would look more in line with what he’s generally given this team in his first year, but those two disaster starts can’t be excluded and shouldn’t be forgotten. Except by him. He’ll now take a bloated 4.54 ERA into his next scheduled start against the Baltimore Orioles. Looks like an easier test on paper but who knows.

The Twins would add on extra insurance runs in the top of the eighth and ninth innings, sealing this game and sending the Athletics home losers yet again. Not much else to say but bleh.

Ugh. Can’t seem to bride anyone for a win these days and the team now falls to 23-38, the fifth-worst record in all of baseball. Lawrence Butler sure showed up ready to play tonight. Doesn’t seem like many of his teammates did, and this team is seemingly accepting their fate as cellar-dwellers. If this is how the final four months of the season is going to play out a change in coaching is needed. Kotsay is not getting these guys ready to play and there doesn’t seem like there is much motivation in the dugout during these games. They’ve made roster changes, given rookies playing time, and now seen their playoff chances seemingly go down the drain. How long must this go on?

They get back at it tomorrow evening, same time and place. The current starter for the Athletics has yet to be announced but whoever it is will face a tough opponent as Minnesota will send out co-ace Pablo Lopez for Game 2. Let’s hope for better results.