by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s lost again Thursday night  to the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 3-0. The A’s lost for the 13th time in the last 15 games and look like a team that has earned the distinction of having the worst won-loss record in all of baseball. In days past, Jesse Chavez would have received credit for a win but the A’s did not give him any run support. Chavez went six-plus innings  giving up 5 hits and three runs while walking one and striking out six.  Jesse’s record is now 1-4 for the season.

The A’s had a chance in the very first inning to put at least one on the board but, as usual, they did not score and no one knows why. A’s center fielder, Billy Burns, led off the inning with a triple. The next batter, Marcus Semien, flied out to medium deep centerfield. Burns, for some reason, did not tag up. Had he attempted to score, he would have made it easily. Rays starter, Alex Colome, retired the next two A’s hitters to end the threat. The decision to stay put at third was a bonehead move and it is symptomatic of what’s wrong with the A’s. They are not playing fundamentally sound baseball.  Bob Melvin did not look happy when Burns came back to the dugout.

Former Athletic, David DeJesus, was the hitting start for the Rays. DeJesus doubled in the fourth to drive in Evan Longoria from first to give the Rays on the runs they would need to win. 1-0 after four. DeJesus homered in the seventh to make it 2-0 and the Rays added one more in the seventh. Final score Rays 3-0 over Oakland.

Notes- With the loss, the A’s are now 14-29 while Tampa improved to 23-19. The Rays were tied with New York for first place in the AL East before the start of play on Thursday. Alex Colome picked up the win and is 3-1 and Rays closer, Bruce Boxberger earned his 12th save of the year. A’s relievers Edward Mujica, Fernando Rodriguez, and Angel Castro closed out the game for Oakland. A’s third baseman, Brett Lawrie committed an error to add to the fielding woes.

Game two of the four-game series will be played Friday evening in Tampa at 4:10pm.