OAKLAND — Zack Gelof homered for a third straight game, but Thursday’s game-tying crusher to centerfield wasn’t enough to deliver the A’s a third straight win and a series sweep of the Kansas City Royals.
The Royals used a pair of Freddy Fermin home runs and an eighth-inning solo shot from Bobby Witt to down the A’s 3-2 before a Coliseum crowd of 8,753 on Teacher Appreciation Day.
The A’s were vying for their second sweep of the season, the other coming here against the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 1 amid a six-game win streak. Both the A’s and Royals entered this game having lost 8-of-10.
Oakland’s offense looked bleak before finally getting to Royals’ starter Seth Lugo in the seventh. That rally peaked onced Gelof barreled a 422-foot shot off the centerfield backdrop to tie the score at 2. Lugo had struck out Nos. 4 and 5 batters Brent Rooker and Tyler Soderstrom before Lawrence Butler then ripped a first-pitch double down the right-field line, and Gelof followed with his eighth home run this season.
Gelof got one more at-bat before this was over, only to get called out on strikes in the ninth, after Butler reached on an error to start a potential comeback. A’s catcher Kyle McCann got thrown out for arguing from the dugout after Gelof’s strikeout. Shea Langeliers, pinch-hitting for McCann, followed with a single, and Daz Cameron’s sacrifice fly moved Butler to third base. Max Scherman flew out to end the A’s bid for a third straight twin.
The Royals had reclaimed the lead when Witt led off the eighth and took a Vinny Nittoli cutter for a 422-foot ride into the left-field bleachers. Kansas City’s previous two runs came on solo homers from Freddy Fermin off A’s starter Mitch Spence, in the second and fourth innings. Fermin, the Royals’ designated hitter, blasted Spence’s well over the left-field wall (398 and 391 feet) for his second career multi-homer game. Spence had allowed just four home runs over 57 innings prior to this outing.
Spence yielded just those two runs, six hits and one walk over six innings. His seventh and final strikeout came on pitch No. 98, and it stranded two runners; none of those strikeouts came on a pitch faster than 92.7 mph.
The A’s tried to take the lead, only for Kyle McCann to get thrown out at home trying to score from first on pinch-hitter Abraham Toro’s double into the right-field corner.
Lugo had pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings before that home run wiped out any chance of him collecting a majors-leading 11th win this season.
The A’s grounded into three double plays over the first four innings to remain scoreless,
The A’s threatened to score in the sixth, but Lugo got Miguel Andjuar, the A’s hottest hitter, to fly out and thus strand two runners. The A’s again stranded two runners in the eighth, including Andujar at third.
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NOTES: The A’s next host the Minnesota Twins, who swept their four-game series last weekend in Minneapolis. The series’ projected starting pitchers: Friday, 6:40 p.m. — the A’s Joey Estes (2-2, 5.97 ERA) vs. the Royals’ Chris Paddack (5-3, 5.25); Saturday, 1:07 p.m. — JP Sears (4-6, 4.25) vs. Bailey Ober (6-4, 4.81); Sunday, 1:07 p.m. — Hogan Harris (1-0, 2.37) vs. Pablo Lopez (6-6, 5.63). … Fans displayed four banners from the right-field bleachers, those reading: “SELL; SELL, FISHER; GENERATIONAL ROBBERY; NO FANS LIKE OAKLAND FANS.” … Throwing out the first pitch was Monica McCarty in honor of her late husband, David, a former Stanford star whose professional career included stints with the A’s and Giants. McCarty passed away April 19 at the age of 54 due to a cardiac event in Oakland, as announced that day by the Boston Red Sox, for whom he finished his playing career in 2003-05.