A’s lose series finale, beaten by the Angels

The Athletics lost the series finale against the Angels on Wednesday afternoon, defeating their division rivals 5-2.

Rookie Joey Estes took the ball today for his ninth start of the year. He showed promise at times in the first half, but also has a lot of room for improvement, especially in terms of consistency.

He had a few problems early on, as the Angels’ first two batters landed in scoring position. He went to work and got the next three outs without allowing a runner to cross the plate. Impressive.

The Angels, meanwhile, threw out right-hander Roansy Contreras for today’s start. Contreras is a former starter, but made his first of the season today. It took one inning, but the A’s scored the first run today in the second inning on a double by Max Shuemann, but a mental error cost the A’s a second run here:

McCann can not missed home plate. This error ended the inning on a bitter note, although it should have ended positively. It cost the A’s a run and gave Estes a little more breathing room.

Not that he really needed it. Over the next four innings, Estes allowed just one walk and kept the Angels hitters guessing as he also collected six strikeouts.

It wasn’t until the sixth inning that Los Angeles was able to really get to him again. After he allowed a leadoff hit and a walk, his day was over. After Estes, it was Austin Adams’ turn. Although he had been so reliable all year, today was not his day, as he allowed five runs, including the two by Estes. A 1-0 lead quickly turned into a 5-1 deficit.

Today just wasn’t Oakland’s day. A late comeback gave Oakland its second run (again thanks to Shuemann), but the team ultimately fell in today’s series finale.

Sigh. One more win. The club has now lost five in a row and looks like a lost team at the moment. Thankfully they have a day off tomorrow before they continue the away tour.

Next up is a trip to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks in a quick three-game series. Left-hander JP Sears will take the ball against an unknown starter at the time of this post. I’m confident we can break this winning streak with Sears on the mound.