The Athletics’ 3-2 loss to the Texas Rangers on Friday night was their 13th in the last 19 games. Once again, the pitching was strong, but it didn’t have enough offensive support.
Starter Cole Irvin through five innings hadn’t given up a hit, and by the time he was pulled, he had struck out five with three earned runs. The A’s left men on base too many times.
Matt Olson, in the top of the seventh inning, grounded out with two outs and the bases loaded. He admitted the bats weren’t there to support the pitchers and it’s not the first time it’s happened.
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“They’ve been great,” Olson said of the pitchers this season. “They’ve given us a chance to win games and the starters have gone deep in the game. The offense has left them out to dry here and there for sure and we just are struggling to find ways to win right now which is obviously not ideal.”
Olson’s groundout measured at 109.4 mph on Statcast, so the power certainly was there, but A’s manager Bob Melvin chalked it up to bad luck in that situation.
“We’re not doing enough offensively to support what our starters are doing and today, [Sergio] Romo comes in and does a great job keeping it at two,” Melvin said. “That should give us some momentum coming into the dugout, we just couldn’t get a big hit."
“We’re not playing great right now,” Melvin added.
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Olson did reiterate the same thing he said earlier in the season when the A’s were going through their dips of the rollercoaster ride. They’re not hitting the panic button, and perhaps after the series in Arlington, the A’s will be able to take advantage of the All-Star break. The team typically becomes a second-half team.
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For now, Chad Pinder, Mitch Moreland and especially Mark Canha could provide some much-needed offensive pop, but they’re all currently on the Injured List for different reasons.
“There’s not a whole lot of margin for error right now, when we’re not scoring many runs,” Melvin said.