A’s Get Downed By Red Sox

Well, so much for a winning record for the month of April. The Athletics suffered a heart-breaker on Sunday against the Orioles and lost big time on Monday against the Red Sox. Their quest for a winning record in April was, in short, killed. The A’s pitching fell apart in both of those games and that’s not encouraging since the team’s pitching has kept the club hovering around the .500 mark.

Overall, the A’s finished the month of April with a 10-12 record. That’s not that bad, considering the club ranks near the bottom in each of baseball’s major offensive categories like batting average, runs scored, and on-base percentage. The pitching, though, has kept the club near the .500 mark for most of the young season and it projects to be the strongest aspect of the A’s 2012 game plan.

On Monday, though, the team’s pitching got torched for 11 runs and 11 hits. Starter Tom Milone (3-2, 3.69 ERA) allowed 8 runs (7 earned) and 8 hits over 4.2 innings of work. Reliever Jordan Norberto was also hit very well by the Red Sox, as he gave up three runs on two hits in just 0.1 inning of work. The A’s defense was also very sloppy, too. The team committed two errors during Monday’s contest in Boston.

The A’s offense wasn’t completely dead this time around, though. OF Josh Reddick drove in three runs with a home run in the 7th inning and fellow OF Coco Crisp drove in two runs as well. Overall, the A’s proved again why they’re not expected to go anywhere this year. They’ve remained largely inconsistent in terms of striking a balance between solid pitching and timely hitting. If the pitching is there, then the offense slacks off. If the offense is there, then the pitching gets torched.

Still, the A’s made a nice run at a winning record in April. They fell a little short, but playing near .500 baseball should be regarded as encouraging.

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