by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: Oakland A’s pitcher Sonny Gray got lit up by the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night at the Oakland Coliseum here Gray delivers a pitch in the first inning

OAKLAND–The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the A’s  7-3 Thursday night at the Oakland Coliseum behind the strong pitching of lefty Matt Moore. The A’s Sonny Gray had another tough outing, and he absorbed his ninth loss of the season. A’s manager Bob Melvin said that Gray was tinkering with some of his pitches to regain his command.  Melvin remarked that he feels Gray still has great “stuff” and that he is confident that he will regain the form that he had the last three years.

The Rays grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the first. Logan Forsythe singled to right leading off the game. He advanced to third on two successive ground outs. DH Corey Dickerson singled to drive in Forsythe. With two out in the second, the Rays first baseman Tim Beckham, hitting just .213, sent  a Sonny Gray pitch into the seats in left field a for his fourth home run of the year. Rays lead 2-0 in the middle of the second. The A’s stormed back in their half of the inning. With two out and men on at first and second, Jake Smolinski hit his fifth dinger of the year to put Oakland in the lead 3-2. The ball hit the top of the fence and then bounced over. Had it bounced back to the field of ply, the umps may have ruled it a double.

Corey Dickerson tied the game at three with a leadoff opposite field solo home run. It was Dickerson’s fourteenth of the year.  The Rays scored four runs on five hits in the top of the fifth to take a 7-3 lead. Five straight hits and a sac fly made life miserable for Gray in the fifth. The A’s failed to score in the bottom of the fifth and Sonny is done for the night. Sonny’s line for the night is five innings pitched, nine hits allowed, seven runs all earned.

Game Notes- The A’s are 4-3 since the All-Star break and fell to 7-10 in July. The A’s are now 42-54 for the season. The Rays improved to 38-57. Both teams are in last place in their respective divisions.

Sonny Gray is 4-9 for the year and 1-4 with a 4.86 ERA since coming off the DL on June 5th. Gray has won just one game since April 22nd. Jake Smolinski had the big knock of the night for Oakland when he hit a three-run dinger in the second inning.

The Rays have won three consecutive games for the first time since June 12-15. Matt Moore is 4-3 with a 2.68 ERA over his last eight starts.

Game two of the four-game series will be played Friday night in Oakland. Game time will be 7:05 PM. Lefty Sean Manaea will be on the hill for Oakland, and righty Jake Odorizzi will handle the pitching chores for Tampa Bay.

Time of game was two hours and forty-six minutes, and 14,412 fans watched the A’s go down to defeat.