Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Paul Blackburn applauds a defensive play by Elvis Andrus against the Cleveland Guardians during the sixth inning at Progressive Field on Fri Jun 10, 2022 (AP News photo)

Oakland Loses Number Ten In Ninth Inning Cleveland Beats A’s 3-2

By Barbara Mason

Friday night the Oakland A’s (20-40) took on the Cleveland Guardians (28-26) in game two of their four game series and once again took on another loss this time their tenth straight 3-2 to the Guardians. Thursday night Oakland remained tied 4-4 with Cleveland through seven innings but let it slip away in the eighth inning when the Guardians scored four times to take game one 8-4.

Friday the A’s were looking to even the series. Paul Blackburn was on the mound for Oakland coming in with a 2.31 ERA. Triston McKenzie started for the Guardians.

The A’s got on the board early striking in the first and second innings. In the first inning Seth Brown homered to right and in the second inning Sean Murphy hit the second home run of the game a shot to left field. The A’s had a 2-0 lead to start this game.

Oakland held Cleveland scoreless through eight innings and Blackburn was having a great outing allowing only four hits.

Going into the ninth inning A’s closer Dany Jimenez would try and save this game for Oakland. The A’s did not have a very good start in the ninth. Jose Ramirez homered to right and set his team up for a possible walk off trailing 2-1 with no outs. Jimenez would load the bases and Owen Miller would hit a sacrifice and Oscar Mercado would score to tie up this game 2-2.

Sam Moll came in for Oakland to try and get the A’s out of the inning. Oakland would load the bases again with one out. Luke Maile sacrificed and drove Oscar Mercado home for the walk off 3-2

The brilliance of Paul Blackburn through eight innings was unfortunately not enough for the win. It was an awful ninth inning for Oakland pitching. They could not get the job done and the A’s suffered their tenth loss in a row.

The A’s were tied for the worst record in baseball alongside the Kansas City Royals KC defeated the Baltimore Orioles 8-1 on Friday.

Oakland just might be the worst team in baseball right now. Their .500 record is a distant memory and now it comes down to taking it one game at a time. Losing this game in the ninth inning was a bitter pill to swallow for the team.

The A’s will play game three in this series Saturday afternoon. First pitch is at 1:10 PM PDT. Starters for the A’s Frankie Montas (2-6, 3.06) and for the Guardians Zach Pleasac (2-4, 4.72).