A’s Drop Road Opener To Tigers 11-4

Not a great day from the pitching staff

The Athletics dropped their series-opening contest to the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday afternoon, falling 11-4 after a little rain delay threw everyone off. The Tigers build on their league-best record while the A’s continue to occupy the worst=team-not-named-White-Sox spot in the American League. They just haven’t been able to get back to where they were after the end of April and things won’t be getting any easier for them on this three-city road trip.

A’s get to Skubal early

Facing last season’s AL Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal, the Athletics had their work cut out for them. Skubal has been even better this year, entering tonight’s game with a 2.06 ERA through 15 starts. Runs would seemingly be at a premium against the ace right-hander.

It’s hard to know if it was definitely the rain but the delay seemed to mess with the righty early on. The Athletics took advantage right away, with Jacob Wilson working a leadoff walk to start the game and Brent Rooker following him with a two-run blast on the sixth pitch of the game to give the A’s the early lead against the Tigers:

That was Rook’s 16th big fly of the season and certainly helps his case for the All-Star Game. The righty slugger is hitting .308/.400/.500 over his last seven games, and time is ticking to make the team. He’s also enjoyed facing Skubal, one of the few players in the game who actually does:

Detroit answers back

The Athletics turned to their high-priced offseason investment for the start this afternoon as Luis Severino took the ball for what was his 17th start with the A’s. It wasn’t as quick as the Athletics’ two runs in the top half of the inning but Detroit got both of those runs right back in the bottom half. With a runner on base Sevy grooved a 3-0 fastball down Broadway that Tigers DH Kerry Carpenter did not miss. He deposited the ball into the right-center field stands, tying this contest 2-2. Brand new ballgame.

Athletics answer the answer

Now into the top of the second, Skubal seemed to be calming down and settling in. That was before a two-out single to Tyler Soderstrom. Up strode to the plate center fielder Denzel Clarke, and he took the lead right back for his team when he hit his second career home run, another two-run blast for the A’s to retake the lead:

Robbing homers and hitting them too? We might have a future star once he settles into the majors and starts hitting like we know he can. The defense will always be there, now let’s see how his bat develops over the second half of the season. Today was an encouraging sign as he finished the day 2-for-3 with the home run.

Tigers take lead, for good

Severino managed to provide his squad with a shutdown inning in the bottom of the second, issuing just one walk. The wheels came off for him in his third inning of work however. Detroit rallied for five runs in the frame against the right-hander, collecting a single, two doubles, a HBP, and a three-run homer from catcher Dillon Dingler that capped off the scoring for the inning. It was now 7-4 and the A’s were now down facing Skubal, who was shaky but now regained the lead.

Manager Mark Kotsay elected to keep his starting pitcher in there for a bit longer, hoping to stretch him and get some innings under his belt before turning to the bullpen. He managed to do just that, making it through five full frames and saving the relievers from tiring themselves out right at the outset of a three-city road trip.

• Luis Severino: 5 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 HR, 97 pitches

He’s been hit-or-miss so far in the first of what could be three years with the team. His season ERA ballooned to 4.84 after tonight’s outing, which was the sixth time he’s allowed five or more runs in a start. He’ll take a 2-8 record into his next scheduled start, which currently lines up to be on Sunday in New York against his former team, the Yankees.

Meanwhile the bats went silent against the former Cy Young winner. SKuball allowed just three more hits through the sixth inning, also racking up a ton of strikeouts and looking much more like his usual self. The A’s had scored four runs off him (just the third time this year he’s allowed four or more runs) but had wasted that with a poor performance from the pitching. The bats tried to get back into this one once Skuball was out of this game, but they wasted three straight hits off the first Tiger reliever and never got another base runner the rest of the night.

Detroit added on some insurance runs in the final frames tonight. They scored two in the seventh off left-hander Hogan Harris (one earned), and two more in the eighth off Tyler Ferguson, who couldn’t finish the frame. He’s had a horrid month of June and his season ERA of 6.42 won’t be tolerated forever. The A’s went down quickly and quietly in the ninth, ending this game and starting the road trip on a sour losing note.

If you score four runs against a pitcher as talented as Tarik Skubal, you really should win that game. Alas, the offensive outburst against a Cy Young contender happened to be wiped out from a meltdown from the Athletics’ own starting pitcher. On the bright side of things, Brent Rooker continues to beef up his case to be an All-Star, Denzel Clarke showed off some power, and Jacob Wilson went 2-for-3 and is still comfortably in second in all of baseball in batting average behind Aaron Judge, who he’s within striking distance of. Now to put all that together and actually start winning some games. We’re desperate for some wins and the pressure has to be getting heavier. The A’s are now 32-49 with just a couple weeks left to go before the All-Star Break.

The series continues tomorrow, same time and place. Rookie left-hander Jacob Lopez will take the ball for the Athletics as he’ll try to continue his strong recent performance and help the A’s snap this three-game losing streak. The league-best Tigers will counter with veteran right-hander Jack Flaherty, who has had some struggles in his return season with Detroit. Rookie versus veteran. Always love those pitching matchups.