A's Drop Road Opener Against The Detroit Tigers

However, Luis Severino wasn't the road warrior on Tuesday nigh that we've become accustomed to. Tigers slugger Kerry Carpenter answer back with a game-tying two-run shot of his own in the bottom of the first inning. This would be Carpenter's 14th homer of the season.

The game wouldn't be tied for long, as four-time Electric Play of the Week winner Denzel Clarke would take a big swing and hit yet another two-run shot to give the A's a 4-2 lead in the second inning. This would be Clarke's second career homer, as his only other homer came in his hometown against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Things would come crashing down for the A's in the bottom of the third inning as Wenceel Pérez would drive in a pair of runs off Severino, and then Dillon Dingler would hit a three-run shot to give Detroit a 7-4 lead. From that point on, it was Detroit's game.

The A's would pull Luis Severino after five innings, and would finish with seven hits allowed, along with seven earned runs, a walk, and two strikeouts. Severino entered the contest with a sub-1.00 ERA on the road, and this outing has upped that to 2.27. This was a rough outing for Severino, and his next start against his former team, the New York Yankees, also on the road.

Tigers' ace Tarik Skubal would only go an extra inning, finishing his night with a line of six innings pitched, six hits allowed, four earned runs, one walk, while punching out eight Athletics hitters. For his standards, this was a rough start for Skubal as well. The A's offense started off hot against the southpaw, but just didn't have the arms to shut down the opposition in this one.

Zach McKinstry would drive in a pair of runs in the seventh inning to give the Tigers a nice 9-4 lead off the Hogan Harris. Struggles for Tyler Ferguson would also continue tonight. He came in for the eighth inning, and would get into a bit of trouble. He had one runner on with two outs, but then allowed a single and a walk to load the bases.

A's manager Mark Kotsay would go to lefty T.J. McFarland, but Riley Greene would drive in Javier Baez and Gleyber Torres to extend Detroit's lead to 11-4 in the bottom of the eighth.

Although the score didn't look like there would be many positives, there still were some good takeaways from tonight's contest. The A's offense was able to score early and often off a premium arm. However, the pitching staff once again couldn't hold onto an early lead, which is starting to become a theme for the first half of A's baseball this season.

Tomorrow the A's will have southpaw Jacob Lopez take the mound. The left-hander has been excellent recently, as he has recorded five or more strikeouts in each of his last five games, and has reached nine strikeouts in three of those games. He's punched out 18 opposing hitters in his last two games. So yes, the rookie lefty is quite hot, and looking to stay that way against a tough team in Detroit.

The A's will face yet another tough arm in Jack Flaherty. Fortunately, he's having some struggles this season and holds a 5.06 ERA in his last 7 games. The A's will be looking to keep the bats hot, and Lopez will look to stay hot himself to get the A's back in the win column.