Up 2-1 with two outs in the top of the ninth, the A's were in position for the win, even with the bases full of Reds on a single and two walks off Jeurys Familia. Jake Fraley hit a ball down the first base line that hit the bag and ricocheted in the air, past a diving Ryan Noda. The A's first baseman said that's a routine play, and the game would have been over if the ball hadn't hit the bag. "That's just baseball."
The Reds secured a 3-2 win over Oakland, with the A's striking out 17 times.
The A's got a jolt on both sides of the ball from a returning Ramón Laureano. In the top of the second, with runners on first and second, Kevin Newman flew out to Laureano in foul territory. Tyler Stephenson decided to tag up on the play, and was out by at least ten feet. A's starter Kyle Muller said the throw was "unbelievable."
In the bottom of the second Ramón clubbed a one-out double to put runners at second and third with one out for Oakland. Aledmys Díaz beat out a ball up the middle that had second baseman Jonathan India ranging to his right to score one, and then Jordan Díaz singled to bring home a second run.
The Reds answered back with a solo home run from Luke Maile to lead off the third, but the A's retained their 2-1 lead until that hit off the bag in the top of the ninth.
With the loss, the A's set a Major League record by not having a starting pitcher record a win in the team's first 28 games. They entered the day tied with the 2022 Pittsburgh Pirates, who got their first starter win in their 28th game last year. Muller said that the streak doesn't matter. "Obviously, every starter's goal is to go out there and do their best to help the team win, but we've got a good group of guys. Even if I didn't get the win there, I'm not mad. We all just want the team to win. If we do our job, that'll come."
The loss drops the A's to 5-23 on the season with one day left in April. Noda said of the start: "We're gonna keep pulling for each other. We're gonna stick together. A true family sticks together through the ups and the downs. We're definitely in the down right now, but it just takes one swing, one pitch to get back on that upslope. We expect to win, and I think it's coming, but we have to keep pushing."
Jace Peterson has been off to a slow start, going 13-for-71 (.183) in the first month, but he made a nice snag on a liner to third in the third that resulted in an unassisted double play to get the A's out of that inning. In the bottom of the sixth he snapped an 0-for-10 streak with a single down the third base line that was hit at 74.6 miles per hour and had an expected batting average of .060. He walked in his next plate appearance. Those are the kind of little breaks that could get someone going.
Mark Kotsay was more philosophical about the way the A's lost this one. "Thus is life, right? When you're hit with the biggest challenges, it's how you respond to them and really how you stand up to those challenges."
Notes: Aledmys Díaz left the game in the second inning after reaching third base due to a left hamstring injury. Mark Kotsay said he is getting an MRI, and that it's most likely going to necessitate an IL stint.
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