By Morris Phillips

Not another donut…

Unfortunately, the shutout has become the A’s most likely manner in which to suffer a loss. After falling 1-0 in Anaheim to the Angels on Saturday night, the A’s have been shutout 13 times in their last 119 games dating back to August 1, 2014.

Causing even more pain, the A’s have lost 1-0 four times in that span, a period in which the A’s have gone from the team with the major’s best record to the team with the worst record and then to their current status, 25-39, which ranks them dead last among American League teams.

Hoping to make up some ground this weekend on third place Anaheim, the A’s have slipped further back in the AL West, trailing first-place Houston by 10 ½ games after the Astros fell to the Mariners on Saturday.

The A’s have dropped six of eight, immediately following a stretch in which they won six of seven.

In a season equally frustrating and confounding, the A’s have actually scored more runs than they’ve allowed—almost unheard of for a last-place club—another byproduct of all the narrow losses. The A’s have captured just seven of the 34 games they’ve played that were decided by two runs or less.

All that competitive pain often falls on some players more than others, and on Saturday it landed squarely on Kendall Graveman like a cartoon character wandering under a baby grand piano as it falls violently to the street.   Graveman was fantastic again—this time in probably the best outing of his big league career—allowing Albert Pujols 538^th career home run in the first inning only to watch it stand as the game-winner.

Graveman scattered eight hits over his eight innings of work, striking out seven without allowing any walks. The rookie pitcher also started 23 of the 30 hitters he faced with a strike, a sign of his consistency throughout the outing. His only mistake? Trying to pitch inside to one of the game’s best hitters, who just happens to be on one of the biggest hot streaks of his decorated career.

Pujols’ first inning homer was the 10^th he’s hit in the last 15 games, bringing him even with the league leaders in the category—Seattle’s Nelson Cruz and his teammate, Mike Trout—at 18 for the season. During his hot streak, Pujols has hit .373 with just three strikeouts. Given that, Graveman and catcher Josh Phegley’s decision to challenge the slugger inside seems foolish in hindsight.

“I probably threw too many fastballs in that sequence,” Graveman recounted. “That’s on me. The first four innings we pitched one way and the last four we pitched a different way.”

Since Graveman’s return from a minor league stint, he’s 2-1 with a 2.14 ERA, and he’s emerged as Oakland’s second-best starter after Sonny Gray.

But little tidbits like that don’t make the losing any easier to endure.

On Sunday, the A’s look to avoid the sweep when Gray faces Anaheim’s Matt Shoemaker in the 12:35pm start.