by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: A’s manger Bob Melvin left, Sonny Grey center, and A’s catcher Stephen Vogt talk it over in the fifth inning on the mound at Target Field on Wednesday

The A’s lost their sixth game in their last seven starts Wednesday afternoon as the lowly Minnesota Twins beat them 4-0. The A’s Sonny Gray pitched six innings and allowed one run, six hits and walked in losing his seventh straight game. Gray’s record is now 3-8, and he hasn’t won a game since April 22nd. The Twins Ervin Santana won his third game of the year and owns a record of 3-7. Santana must smile when he see that he is pitching against Oakland. He has owned the A’s in the past and today was no different. Santana was perfect until there were two outs in the fifth inning. The no-hitter and the chance for a perfect game went bye-bye when Billy Butler doubled.  Steven Vogt singled in the eighth for A’s second and final hit of the day.

The Twins scored in the bottom of the fifth to score the only run they would need to win the game. Joe Maurer doubled to drive in Robbie Grossman with the winning run. The Twins added two more in the seventh and one in the eighth to close out the scoring. Twins win 4-0.

Game Notes- With the loss, the A’s are again thirteen games under the .500 mark with a record of 36-49. The A’s travel to Houston to face the Astros. The Astros are playing much better baseball now. They got off to a slow start but, as mentioned above, are much more formidable, and the A’s will have their work cut out for them this weekend.  The Twins Ervin Santana allowed just two hits, and he struck out eight and did not walk a batter. The Twins are 8-8 in their sixteen games but their season record of 29-55 is truly pathetic.

LHP Rich Hill (8-3,2.31 ERA) will pitch Thursday night for Oakland. Game time will be at 5:05 PM PT.