A’s let late lead slip away, lose 3-2 to Reds

Late game collapse cost them today

Oakland extended their losing streak today, blowing a late lead a against the Cincinnati Reds and falling 3-2.

Facing Reds starter Hunter Greene, the offense struggled for most of this game. He struck out 10 A’s hitters in the first four innings and generally kept the bats in check.

Oakland did manage to tag him for a couple runs though. Outfielder Ramon Laureano, fresh off the IL and in his first at-bat put the A’s in business with a double to give the A’s an early scoring opportunity. They cashed in, getting the first run thanks to Aledmys Diaz:

The other Diaz did some more damage as Jordan brought in the second run with his own RBI single:

For a while it seemed like that might be enough since the pitching was doing it’s job.

It was Kyle Muller on the mound for Oakland today and he was on top of it. The left-hander pitched five mostly clean innings, with the only damage coming from a solo home run in the third that cut the lead in half.

-Kyle Muller: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 80 pitches

He handed the bullpen a lead and it felt like Oakland’s losing streak was coming to an end. Each of Domingo Acevedo, Richard Lovelady and Zach Jackson each pitched a scoreless inning, bridging the gap between Muller seeming closer Jeurys Familia.

Thats what it all fell apart for Oakland. A couple walks and a single loaded the bases for the Reds and put the go-ahead run in scoring position. It seemed like he might be able to wiggle out of it after getting two outs but finally gave up the big hit when a 2-run double gave Cincinnati the lead. Oakland went quietly in the bottom of the ninth, striking out in all three at bats to end the game and extend the losing streak.

This was a tough one to let slip away. It felt like the two runs would be enough to come out on top but turned out to, well, not be. Oakland will try to salvage a game from this series tomorrow afternoon. It’ll be Ken Waldichuk going for the A’s and he’ll be opposed by Nick Lodolo in the final game of April. I think the A’s are super ready to turn the calendar on this month of baseball.