Frankie Montas’ usual contagious smile was gone as he arrived at postgame press conference -- even after a strong outing.
A tough seventh inning that featured catcher’s interference on Sean Murphy, a rare Matt Chapman miscue, and an overall lack of offensive production from the Athletics in their 6-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Thursday at the Coliseum would explain the lack of grinning from Montas.
It was chalked up to bad luck.
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“Really bad luck,” A's manager Bob Melvin said. “Might have been some of his best stuff all year.”
In 6 1/3 innings, Montas allowed five hits and didn't walk any batters while striking out eight.
“I agree with him,” Montas said on Melvin’s assessment. “This is the best I’ve looked so far, to be honest with you. I feel like I had everything working today.”
Montas wanted the win, naturally.
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“I’m not happy with the results, but that’s baseball,” Montas said.
Montas said he was throwing his strikes, getting his sequence down, attacking the hitters, not walking anyone and hitting his spots. He did everything right.
“When I say it’s one of my best outings, that’s what I’m talking about,” Montas said.
Montas' velocity remained high as he completed each inning. He chalked that up to him getting better and better.
A catcher’s interference in the seventh inning caused Jorge Soler to reach first base, the sixth time he has reached on such a play.
“Those things happen from time to time,” Melvin, a former big-league catcher himself, said.
Soler moved to third on a double by Hunter Dozier and Kelvin Gutierrez followed with a two-run single, giving the Royals a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning. It all snowballed from there.
Jesús Luzardo came in the eighth inning and promptly gave up two home runs to Andrew Benintendi and Soler.
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The A’s only collected three hits in support of Montas, one of which was a solo homer by Jed Lowrie.
The A's were the victim of bad luck, but Montas' outing was a good sign for the future.