Game #55: A’s get shut out, again

Nothing to see here.

The Oakland A’s lost 8-0 to the Boston Red Sox on Saturday at the Coliseum. It’s their eighth loss in nine games on this current homestand.

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Today was the seventh time the A’s have been shut out this season, which ties them for the MLB lead with the Tigers and Twins. Oakland’s 20 games scoring one run or fewer are easily the most in the majors, with the runner-up Nationals standing at 17.

The A’s only managed four hits this afternoon, lowering their MLB-worst batting average to a .210 mark. They got to second base in the 2nd inning when Elvis Andrus doubled, and they got to third base in the 4th when Ramon Laureano doubled and then stole a bag, but both were stranded in scoring position. In the 8th they nearly got a gift when the Red Sox made a throwing error on a grounder, but a runner was nabbed between third and home to end the inning.

That was the entirety of Oakland’s offense today. Oh, they also drew a pair of walks.

Meanwhile, Boston had no problem scoring. They rallied for three runs in the 3rd and another in the 4th off starter Paul Blackburn, connecting for plenty of hard contact along the way.

• Blackburn: 4+ ip, 4 runs, 3 Ks, 2 BB, 7 hits, 73 pitches

The bullpen settled things down for a while, but the Sox tacked on some insurance in the 8th inning. They led off the frame with five straight hits, pushing four runs across. Most of those hits were weak lucky contact, but they count the same in the box score.

That is all.