Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The Oakland A’s completed the three-game sweep over the Baltimore Orioles by beating them 8-3 at the Oakland Coliseum on Wednesday.

The O’s have now lost eight in a row, and the team is floundering at the bottom of the AL with a record of 21-53. They seem to be channeling the 2013 Houston Astros. The Astros, in their first year in the AL, lost over 100 games. They made great draft selections and made it to the top of the baseball world in 2017 when they won their first World Series. The O’s were not a good team last year, and they are on the same path this year. To make matters worse, the O’s best player, Trey Mancini, was hit on his left elbow with a 92-MPH sinker thrown by Chris Bassitt. Mancini left the game, and the MRI showed that he had an elbow contusion.

Bassitt pitched very well Wednesday afternoon. Bassitt went 5 and 2/3rds innings and allowed two hits and two runs, Bassitt almost came out of the game in the first inning. A’s manager Bob Melvin noticed that something might be wrong with Bassitt’s finger. Bassitt had a loose piece of skin, and that hampered his throwing motion. The A’s trainer came out and clipped off the skin.

“I felt a whole lot better than I have the last couple of outings,” Bassitt said. “For a couple outings, I went into this weird mode where I was trying to throw strikes, and that’s not me. I’m just trying to throw a fastball by you 80 times a game.”

Bassitt retired 16 of the 18 hitters he faced and did not allow a hit until Jonathan Villar singled with one out in the sixth.

The A’s put three runs on the board in the fifth, one in the sixth, and four in the seventh. Josh Phegley homered with two on to put the A’s ahead 3-0 after five complete. The Orioles scored two in the top of the sixth. The A’s responded with one in their half of the inning. The O’s scored one in the top of the seventh to make it 4-3.

The A’s put the game out of reach when they scored four times off O’s reliever Shaun Armstrong. The A’s win 8-3.

Game Notes: With the win, the A’s improve to 39-36. The O’s drop to 21-53. The O’s have also lost eight in a row.

The A’s hitting stars were Josh Phegley with a three-run blast, Stephen Piscotty with two doubles, and Marcus Semien with two hits to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. Bassitt is now 4-3 for the year and lefty Josh Rogers is 0-1. Jimmy Yacabonis started for the O’s and went two innings before giving way to Rogers.

Up Next: The A’s begin a four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays Thursday night in Oakland. The A’s won two out of three from the Rays last weekend in Tampa Bay. The Rays were swept by the Yankees in New York and are now 3 1/2 games behind New York for first place in the AL East.

Frankie Montas (9-2, 2.85 ERA) will go for the A’s, and he will be opposed by the crafty right-handed veteran pitcher Charlie Morton. Morton beat the A’s last week in Tampa. Morton is 8-1 and has an ERA of just 2.37. Morton lost his first game to the Angels last week. Morton is 2-1 with an ERA of 3.27 in six career starts against the A’s.

Game time will be at 7:07 pm.

The A’s will be celebrating African American Heritage night, and fans will receive an Oakland Larks replica cap.