by Jerry Feitelberg

Monday night’s game in Baltimore was the last game of a seven-game road trip. The A’s had lost all six games in a row before the start of play and were hoping to get a win before heading home to Oakland. The A’s, however, played another sloppy game and they lost 4-2 to the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles completed a four-game sweep and, to make matters worse, the A’s have a long flight home and probably will be very tired when they face the Los Angeles Dodgers at the O.co Coliseum Tuesday night. The A’s sent their ace, Sonny Gray, out to pitch and they were hoping that Sonny could stop the losing streak. Gray, without a doubt, is one of the best pitchers in the American League.  The A’s took an early 1-0 lead on a Danny Valencia home run but the defense let Gray down in the fourth inning, Orioles first baseman, Chris Davis, reached on an error by Eric Sogard. Sogard knocked the ball down but couldn’t find it until it was too late and Davis reached first safely. The next batter, second baseman Johnathan Schoop singled and that was followed by a blast off the bat of Designated hitter Steve Clevenger to put the Orioles ahead 3-0. Marcus Semien made a throwing error in the inning, but it did not cost the A’s.

The A’s got a run back in the top of the sixth. Left fielder Mark Canha took a Chris Tillman pitch to right for a solo home run. The Orioles got the run back in their half of the inning. Shortstop J.J.Hardy singled and that was followed by a double by catcher Caleb Joseph. Gray walked Manny Machado and that was it for him. Drew Pomeranz finished the inning.

The A’s were done for the evening.  Tillman went seven innings in recording his ninth win of the year. Darren O’Day pitched a scoreless eighth for the Birds and Zach Britton pitched the ninth and picked up his 29th save of the season.

Game notes- Not too many highlights for the A’s Monday night as they lost for the seventh straight time. It is the longest losing streak of the year for Oakland. The A’s defense made three errors in the game to have a total of 99 in 2015 so far. A’s designated hitter, Billy Butler, grounded into two more rally-killing double plays. Butler’s average is below .240 and he seems to be in a fog at the plate.

Stats for the road trip are as follows. 0-7 record. Runs scored per game 2.9. Runs allowed per game 7.4. Team batting average was .240 and the pitchers had an abysmal ERA of 6.93.

The A’s manager Bob Melvin and center fielder Sam Fuld were ejected from the game in the fifth inning on a very rare batter interference call. Fuld laid down a bunt that went about two feet in front of home plate. Fuld, running hard, all the way down the baseline, appeared to interfere with Chris Davis’ attempt to catch the ball. The ball dropped to the ground, but home plate umpire Brian Knight called Fuld out. Melvin came rushing out of the dugout and was tossed after protesting the call vehemently. Fuld continued to argue with Knight even though Knight put up his hand as if to tell Fuld to stop. Fuld didn’t stop and he was tossed, too.

The A’s had just three hits in the game. Danny Valencia had a solo homer in the second inning to go along with Canha’s blast in the sixth.

Sonny Gray went 5 2/3rds innings allowing 7 hits and four runs. Only one of the runs was earned. His record is now 12-5 and his ERA actually dropped slightly.

The A’s are now eighteen games under .500 with a record of 51-69. Baltimore improved to 61-56 and would be the second Wild Card in the AL if the playoffs were to start.

The A’s face the Dodgers at 7:05 Tuesday night at the O.co. Clayton Kershaw, the reigning NL Cy Young winner, and NL MVP will pitch for LA. The A’s will have their hands full.