The Athletics dropped their 61st game of the season on Sunday afternoon in Minnesota, falling to the Twins 11-8 in the series finale and ending the road trip on a low note. Not the way the club wanted things to go today.
It was left-hander Jeffrey Springs on the bump this afternoon possibly making one of, if not his final start in an Athletics uniform. The Twins were all over him early on, tagging him for three runs in the first inning before chasing him with just one out in the second. It was not a great
showcase for interested teams and it’s feeling likely that Springs may not generate enough interest to warrant moving an arm that can soak up innings over the final two months.
Things weren’t much better for his replacement Luis Morales, who was only just recently recalled from Triple-A. Needing innings out of him Mark Kotsay let it ride with the right-hander and was rewarded with nearly five full innings of work while allowing just a pair of earned runs. Perhaps most encouragingly he punched out five Twins batters while issuing just one free pass. He started the year in the big league rotation and it’s feeling like he may end the year back in the starting five as well. Still, by the end of the fourth inning it was already 7-0 Twins.
Meanwhile the Athletics’ offense had no answer for Twins rookie Connor Prielipp. The left-hander was dominant through the first five frames today, allowing just a walk and single (both of which were immediately wiped out by double plays) through the first five innings.
It wasn’t until the sixth where he began running into trouble. A couple base runners on and one Nick Kurtz home run was all that was needed to juice the squad and get back into this one:
Minnesota got one of those runs back in the bottom half of the frame but the A’s answered that one back with three more of their own in the top of the seventh. A bases-loaded walk, an RBI groundout and an RBI sac fly was enough for the A’s to cash in three more runs, though honestly they could have made more noise after loading the bases with no outs to start the frame.
The A’s would chip away in big chunks but the Twins would keep finding ways to add on a run here and there against the bullpen. The A’s added on a pair of rus in the ninth but it was just far too little too late as the A’s couldn’t overcome the large hole they dug themselves.
Another tough loss at the ballpark. Not what you’d like to see this time of year but it is what it is. The Athletics now stand at 44-61 and are all but set to be sellers over the next few days. The club at least returns home to Sacramento tomorrow evening for a brand new home stand.
The club welcomes the Boston Red Sox to town tomorrow for the first of four games in West Sacramento. It’s going to be right-hander Jack Perkins getting the ball for the home team while lefty Payton Tolle is set to take the ball for Boston.
