A’s lose series opener against Angels

After a week of a .500 average, the Oakland Athletics were hoping to build on the momentum they had built up and become a somewhat competitive team again. Today, that ounce melted away to a ounce – excuse the merging of the metric and imperial systems – as they quietly lost to a similarly struggling franchise.

Right from the start, the Angels ran over Luis Medina and took advantage of his inconsistent control. After hitting the game’s second batter, Luis Rengifo, with a pitch, left fielder Taylor Ward struck out with a 97-mph sinker up the middle and sent it into right field for a two-run shot.

Not long after, the A’s struck back when recently recalled Tyler Nevin took a hanging curveball in the middle of the zone and sent it deep into center field for a solo hit, making the game 2-1. The 27-year-old shined in Las Vegas, but since returning to the major leagues he has made just 3 of 19 throws without his usual high number of walks. He and newly crowned PCL Player of the Week Seth Brown may continue to be traded for each other for the rest of the year.

Unfortunately, that was the last we heard from the A’s lineup. Griffin Canning, Ben Joyce and Hans Crouse held Oakland scoreless for the final 7 innings of the game while the offense scored 3 more runs to finish the game 5-1. All but one of those runs came under Medina’s watch, who Mark Kotsay didn’t trust to come back to the bench for the 4th inning. Instead, he went with swingman Aaron Brooks, who did an admirable job, finishing the rest of the 5 innings with one run and giving the bullpen a night off.

I can accept losing nine games in a row to teams that are clearly a class above us, but losing a series to this Angels team without Ohtani and Trout might be too much to swallow. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…Mitch Spence, we need you.