By Morris Phillips

Frankie Montas didn’t seem concerned about his shoulder injury, but it’s likely he has some other concerns.

Like his future in Oakland with the A’s.

Montas threw just 13 pitches in the A’s loss to the Mariners in Seattle at which point the alarming news from the radar gun forced manager Mark Kotsay’s hand.

“He had some tightness in the back of his shoulder and just didn’t feel like he could get fully extended. In that situation we are going to err on the side of caution,” Kotsay said of the readings from the radar gun that showed Montas well off the usual speed on his fastball. “We’ll just go day to day from here.”

I don’t have any concern,” Montas said. “I don’t think it’s anything bad, just probably some inflammation. Didn’t have enough time to recover (after his last start).”

Montas’ importance as a trade piece at the upcoming trade deadline has been well documented. But in that atmosphere, the 29-year old has been the A’s most impressive performer, more often than not keeping the A’s in a tight ballgame whether the offense responds to support him or not.

On Sunday at T-Mobile Park, the offense again was absent. The A’s lost 2-1 for the second, consecutive day and they now stand 1-29 in games they score one run or less. With an offense that feeble the home run Montas allowed to Julio Rodriguez on the first pitch Montas threw put the A’s under tremendous pressure.

Rodriguez backed it up in the sixth with an RBI double that gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead. The A’s response–Elvis Andrus’ homer in the seventh–wasn’t enough as the A’s fell for the 25th time in their last 31 games, putting them on track to have their worst season record in over 100 years dating back to their Philadelphia days.

Robbie Ray pitched into the seventh inning and struck out 12 Athletics, energizing manager Scott Servais, who has seen his squad surge from a sluggish start to the season with wins in 10 of 13 games.

“Riding the Robbie Ray train is what we do, and what we will continue to do because he is really good and he is fun to watch,” Servais said.

“My four-seam (fastball) and my slider have been really good but that two-seamer throws a wrinkle into it and allows (the other two pitches) to be that much better,” Ray said.

If the A’s had a “star” on Sunday it was Austin Pruitt, who replaced Montas and retired 13 consecutive batters.

The A’s open a six-game home stand against Toronto on the 4th of July with Cole Irvin, winless in his last eight starts, facing the dynamic Alex Manoah, who has a 9-2 record.