A’s drop a close one, lose 2-0 to Royals

The A’s dropped Thursday’s game against the Kansas City Royals, losing 2-0 and not managing much of anything on offense.

Pitching (mostly) solid

Yesterday’s original starter Ken Waldichuk got the start today and pitched four clean innings before finally getting tagged for the game’s only two runs in the fifth. A double and single chased Waldichuk from the game, with Rico Garcia coming on in relief. He allowed the inherited runner to score after giving up a pair of singles.

That was all the damage done against the pitching staff today, though. Today’s original starter Adam Oller came on in the sixth inning and went the rest of the way, pitching three scoreless frames, allowing just one hit and a couple K’s. Oller continues to make a case for one of the starting spots in the rotation and helped his cause today.

Bats come up empty

The two runs were enough for Kansas City. Oakland’s offense just couldn’t get much going today. Their best chances came in the first when Nick Allen doubled to lead off the game and stole third. A pair of walks from Ramon Laureano and Brent Rooker loaded the bases but the A’s wasted the quick opportunity to score.

And that was mostly it from the bats today. Oakland got doubles in the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings and even got the tying run in scoring position in the seventh but just couldn’t get the big hit against Kansas City. Oh well.

The A’s are right back at it again tomorrow, facing the rival San Francisco Giants. Lefty JP Sears is in line for the start and will hope to improve his spring stats with a strong start. See you all then!