Sacramento A’s starter Mason Barnett pitches to the Cincinnati Reds in the bottom of the first inning at Great American Park in Cincinnati on Thu Aug 6, 2026 (AP News photo)

Sacramento A’s game wrap:

By Mauicio Segura

Brian Serven gave the Athletics one final surge, but Cincinnati had already built just enough room to survive. After Lawrence Butler reached on an infield single and advanced on Elly De La Cruz’s throwing error, Serven sent a two-run homer to left-center, trimming a three-run deficit to one.

The rally ended there, however, as Alika Williams grounded out and Jonathan Ornelas struck out, sealing a 6-5 Reds victory and the Athletics’ eighth consecutive loss. The A’s were swept in the three-game series and dropped to 45-70.

Cincinnati wasted little time taking the lead. De La Cruz opened the bottom of the first with a home run to left-center, giving the Reds a 1-0 advantage before Mason Barnett had recorded an out. Barnett recovered well enough to avoid further damage, helped by one of the game’s strangest sequences.

Serven successfully challenged a call involving Tyler Stephenson, who was ruled out on strikes, while JJ Bleday was also caught stealing for an inning-ending double play.

The Athletics broke through in the fourth. Henry Bolte and Tommy White opened the inning with singles, and Jonah Heim drew a walk to load the bases. Tyler Soderstrom followed with a two-run single through the middle, scoring Bolte and White for a 2-1 advantage. Max Muncy added another single to reload the bases, and Butler’s ground-ball double play brought Heim home for a 3-1 lead.

That inning also showed the cost of giving away outs. Heim had already grounded into a double play in the first, and Butler’s fourth-inning twin killing limited what might have become a much larger rally. The A’s entered the game tied for second in the majors with 88 ground-ball double plays, and two more proved especially costly.

The Reds erased the lead almost immediately. Sal Stewart and Stephenson hit solo homers in the bottom of the fourth, tying the game at 3-3. Barnett returned for the fifth but hit Matt McLain, allowed a single to Stewart and issued a walk to Bleday, loading the bases with one out. Elvis Alvarado replaced him and struck out Stephenson, but consecutive bases-loaded walks to Eugenio Suárez and Dane Myers pushed Cincinnati ahead 5-3.

Barnett was charged with five runs on five hits over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out seven, but three of Cincinnati’s hits against him cleared the fence. Andrew Abbott, meanwhile, settled after the fourth and completed 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. Bleday gave the Reds their final run in the seventh, driving a Seth Johnson pitch over the wall in right-center for a 6-3 lead.

The Green and Gold entered the game with a seven-game skid and only four victories in their previous 27 contests. The defeat made it eight straight and dropped them to 4-24 since July 3. Serven’s late homer at least offered another encouraging moment since his July 26 recall. His previous homer, hit July 28, had been his first in the majors since August 2022.

The A’s will try to stop the slide in Boston, where Sacramento’s Jack Perkins (2-7, 6.72 ERA, 89 strikeouts) is scheduled to face Boston left-hander Payton Tolle (6-6, 3.30 ERA, 110 strikeouts), with first pitch set for 4:10 p.m. Pacific.

Costa Rican-born Mauricio Segura has been covering sports in the Bay Area since 2001 for a variety of magazines and newspapers, as well as his own publication, Golden Bay Times.

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🔥Game-day bites? Oh yeah.
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