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Oakland Athletics Recap 4/12: A’s Lose Heartbreaker 5-4

By Melson Varsovia

Apr 12, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels left fielder Craig Gentry (3) waits to high five catcher Geovany Soto (18) after being batted in on Soto
Apr 12, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels left fielder Craig Gentry (3) waits to high five catcher Geovany Soto (18) after being batted in on Soto /
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Oakland Athletics Recap 4/12: A’s Lose 5-4

4. 96. 5. 102. Final

The Oakland Athletics lost an absolute heartbreaker tonight 5-4 against the Los Angeles Angels. Sean Doolittle blew a save, allowing two runs and earning his second loss for the season. The A’s benefited from a solo home run by Marcus Semien, and Kendall Graveman had an excellent outing, pitching for six innings and striking out three while allowing only one run. Hector Santiago pitched 7 2/3 innings for Los Angeles but gets the no decision, and former Athletic Huston Street gets a consecutive save following last night’s game.

The A’s were in the lead the entire game until the ninth inning. After Graveman’s outing, John Axford continued his own scoreless streak, shutting out the Angels in the seventh inning. But Ryan Madson entered the game in the eighth and gave up two runs on a double by Albert Pujols. Sean Doolittle, taking the mound in the ninth inning, allowed a walk to C.J. Cron and immediately was burned on a home run to former Athletic Geovany Soto. Another beloved former A’s player, Craig Gentry, replaced Cron and scored on Soto’s homer.

The A’s bullpen is starting to look wild. For example, after the A’s made as many moves as they did to bolster their bullpen, could anyone imagine that their most reliable pitchers would be Ryan Dull and John Axford? Doolittle has been the model of inconsistency. In five appearances, he already has a record of 1-2 with a ghastly 5.79 ERA. He did convert a save in his last appearance on April 10, and the A’s will presumably maintain him as closer. But the A’s need to prove that tonight was an outlier in terms of their bullpen performance.

Offensively, the A’s are showing signs of life after yesterday’s mediocre performance. Josh Reddick is showing signs of reliability offensively. He provided two RBI today for the A’s and is quietly the runner-up of the A’s in that category (Jed Lowrie leads with seven). Reddick scored one on a single in the first inning, and another on a groundout with speedster Billy Burns on third base in the third inning. In fact, Burns stole two bases today; Bob Melvin has clearly given Burns the green light especially against lefties as he stole third base against the southpaw Santiago on two separate occasions. Finally, Marcus Semien, with two home runs today, has proven his big league power is here to stay. The only shortstop with more home runs this early in the year is Trevor Story.

Next: Gray Pitches Well But Angel$ Win

The A’s will try to salvage a win against the Angels tomorrow in Oakland before a day off Thursday. Eric Surkamp pitches against Matt Shoemaker. First pitch is at 12:35 P.M. PST.