Athletics bats go silent in 4-0 loss to Royals

The Oakland Athletics offense was held in check Wednesday afternoon in a 4-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

Adrian Martinez made his first start of the season for the A’s and worked a pair of scoreless innings to start the game.

Martinez found trouble in the third though as Dairon Blanco led off the inning with a home run to put Kansas City in front 1-0. Martinez then hit Maikel Garcia with a pitch. Garcia stole second, but then was gunned down by Shea Langeliers trying to steal third. Bobby Witt Jr. then followed with a single which would end Martinez’s afternoon.

Francisco Perez took over and retired Michael Massey on a ground out. With a base open, the A’s walked Salvador Perez intentionally and Perez struck out MJ Melendez to end the inning.

Perez stayed in for the fourth and hit Matt Beaty. After a strikeout to Freddy Fermin, Perez allowed a triple to Drew Waters to push the Royals lead to 2-0.

Kansas City wasn’t finished though. Perez walked Blanco before Garcia plated Waters with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 3-0.

Kyle Muller entered the game in the fifth and served up a homer to Witt to start the inning. He pitched around a pair of walks in the sixth and then retired six straight hitters between the seventh and eighth innings.

Oakland threatened in the eighth, but were unable to come up with a key hit. Tony Kemp and Shea Langeliers walked to start the inning. Lawrence Butler then grounded into a force out, but beat the relay throw at first to put runners at the corners. Another walk to Nick Allen loaded the bases. However, Royals reliever Carlos Hernandez got Seth Brown to pop out for the second out and then Zack Gelof to ground out to second to strand the runners.

Sean Newcomb made his Oakland debut in the ninth with a scoreless inning. Ryan Noda was hit by a pitch to start the ninth, but the next three hitters went down in order to end the game.

The A’s managed just two hits in the game and none after the third inning. Jonah Bride singled to lead off the first and Allen reached on an infield hit in the third.

Oakland misses out on a chance to record their second sweep of the season, but still gets a series win. They will now head out on the road where they will begin a four-game series against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.