Oakland falls behind early in 9-0 loss to Tigers

After two-straight wins, the Oakland Athletics fell flat with a 9-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers in Thursday’s series finale.

Hogan Harris found himself in some first inning trouble and it again started with a walk. Harris retired Matt Vierling on a ground out to start the game, but then walked Spencer Torkelson. Andy Ibanez followed with a double off the wall in right center to put runners at second and third with just one out. Harris struck out Kerry Carpenter for the second out, but Javier Baez made him pay with a single to left that scored both runners to give Detroit and early 2-0 lead.

Harris struck out the side in the second, but again found himself in trouble in the third. Vierling began the inning with a leadoff walk. Harris struck out Torkelson, but then walked Ibanez to put runners at first and second. Carpenter singled to left to bring home Vierling to make it 3-0. Harris then did the impossible and walked Baez to load the bases. Jonathan Schoop followed with a sacrifice fly to right to make it 4-0.

The A’s managed just one hit against Michael Lorenzen over the first three innings, an Aledmys Diaz single, but he was erased on a double play. Brent Rooker singled with two outs in the fourth, but Seth Brown grounded out to leave him stranded.

Harris’ struggles continued in the fourth. Zack Short and Jake Marisnick hit back-to-back doubles to extend the deficit to 5-0. Marisnick stole third base and then scored on a single by Vierling.

Harris inexplicably came back out to start the fifth and the A’s defense didn’t do much to help him out. Baez reached on a hit to left that Kemp misplayed into a double. Schoop then sent a bouncer back through the middle that Jordan Diaz couldn’t handle for an infield single to put runners at first and third. Harris got Haase to bounce into a double play, but Baez scored on the play to make it 7-0. Mark Kotsay would then go to his bullpen for Rico Garcia who got Short to fly out to right to end the inning.

The whole game was a struggle for Harris who had no business coming back out for the fifth. He exited having allowed seven hits, four walks and a season-high seven runs in 4 2/3 innings. He did strike out six while throwing 105 pitches.

The Tigers added another run in the sixth as Marisnick took Garcia deep for a solo home run. He returned for the seventh and allowed back-to-back singles to Carpenter and Baez to start the inning. After a ground out by Schoop, Eric Haase singled to left to score Baez to extend Detroit’s lead to 9-0. Kotsay then summoned Richard Lovelady from the pen who retired Short and Marisnick to avoid anymore damage.

Oakland finally got a runner past first base in the eighth as Jordan Diaz reached on an infield single and advanced to third on a throwing error by third baseman Tyler Nevin. However, Brendan White retired the next three hitters in order to leave him stranded.

Jace Peterson pitched a scoreless eighth inning and the A’s went down in order in the ninth to end the game.

After exploding for 12 runs in Wednesday’s game, Oakland manages just four singles in the finale. With the loss, the A’s fail to capture their second road sweep of the season, but will settle for a series win. They will head to Boston Friday where they will close out the first half of the season with a three-game series against the Red Sox.