A’s get embarrassed in blowout loss to Orioles

JP Sears struggled and the Oakland Athletics offense never got off the ground Sunday in a blowout loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

Sears found himself in trouble from the start after giving up two consecutive singles to Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle. Sears got Gunnar Henderson to pop out for the first out, but then walked Austin Hays to lead the bases. Ramon Urias then grounded into what looked like a double play, but a botched throw from Gelof led to Baltimore taking the 1-0 lead Sears struck out Cedric Mullins to avoid any more first inning damage.

Baltimore added to their lead in the second when Jorge Mateo hit an inside the park home run. Mateo flashed his elite speed and took advantage of poor outfield communication from Lawrence Butler and Tony Kemp

Things continued to go south for Sears and the A’s in the third. Mountcastle singled to start the inning and then moved to third on a double by Henderson. Hays brought them both home with a single to push the lead to 4-0.

Sears’ struggles continued in the fourth as Jordan Westburg doubled to lead off the inning. He retired Ryan McKenna and Mateo, but then walked Adley Rutschman. Mountcastle made him pay with a long home run to left center to push the lead to 7-0. Henderson nearly made it back-to-back homers, but his deep fly hit off the top of the wall for a triple. Sears then got Hays to pop out to leave him stranded at third.

While Sears was struggling, Kyle Bradish was mowing down the Oakland lineup. He retired the first 10 hitters he faced before Zack Gelof singled in the fourth inning to extend his on-base streak to 17-straight games.

Sears would give way to Zach Neal in the fifth. It was the worst outing of the season for the A’s lefty who allowed nine hits, two walks and seven runs in just four innings.

Neal retired the side in order in the fifth. He walked McKenna to start the sixth before Mateo lined to Seth Brown at first who tagged the base for an unassisted double play.

Neal stayed in to start the seventh and allowed a solo homer to Henderson to make it 8-0. Westburg added another run later in the inning to make it 9-0.

Brent Rooker gave the fans something to cheer about when he connected for his 20th home run on the season to lead off the seventh.

The Orioles added two more runs in the eighth on a single by Rutschman and a double by Henderson to make it 11-1. Francisco Perez replaced Neal with two outs in the eighth and allowed a run-scoring single to Ramon Urias to round out the scoring.

The A’s went down in order in the ninth against Shintaro Fujinami to end the game.

It was an ugly outing for Oakland all the way around. Gelof accounted for two of their four hits, giving him seven multi-hit games in August.

The loss is the A’s third-straight and drops them to 34-90 on the season. They will continue their homestand Monday when the Kansas City Royals come in for a three-game series.