By Morris Phillips

The A’s have been caught.

And for the first time since 2011, their rival, the Angels have first place to themselves. And for the first time since April 28, the suddenly struggling A’s are on the outside, looking up in the AL West.

The A’s came up short in Atlanta for the second night in a row, losing 4-3 to the Braves while the Angels won for the second straight night in Texas. The A’s fell to 1-5 on their road trip to Kansas City and Atlanta and their four-game losing streak is only their second such skid this season.

“We haven’t really been through a tough stretch all year other than a sweep here and there were we responded very well,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We’re just going through a tough stretch right now.”

The A’s got an uneven outing from Sonny Gray, who allowed eight hits and four runs in an outing that lasted five plus innings. Still, the A’s battled back from 3-0 and 4-2 deficits only to see Josh Reddick’s blast to the left field wall in the ninth inning that would have tied the game caught by Justin Upton.

Gray couldn’t survive the sixth, while the A’s offense couldn’t capitalize on several rallies that were a result of the team’s five hits and five walks. In the end, the A’s were shut down by pitcher Julio Teheran who put up five scoreless innings then allowed two runs on Stephen Vogt’s two-run shot that brought the A’s within 3-2 in the sixth inning.

Gray was perfect in July, going 5-0 and being named the American League pitcher of the month, but in August, Gray has been saddled with a loss in all four of his starts, prompting questions of whether the young starter has run out of gas in his first full season as a big league starter.

“I thought I made a lot of really good pitches and it just kind of didn’t go our way,” Gray said.

The A’s look to avoid the sweep on Sunday when Jon Lester takes the ball looking for his eight consecutive victory. The Braves will counter with lefty Mike Minor.