A's Fall Short Despite a Jacob Lopez Gem and Nick Kurtz's Late Inning Heroics

Justin Sterner came on to pitch the eighth inning in a 1-0 ballgame, and tossed a scoreless inning, allowing a hit and recording a strikeout. Southpaw Matt Strahm came in for the Phillies following that with a scoreless inning of his own to keep the Phillies up by one heading into the ninth inning.

To end the inning, with a runner on third and two down, Phillies' centerfielder Johan Rojas made a game-saving catch on the warning track to keep the A's off the board. These are the kinds of plays that happen to a team when they're on a losing streak.

A's skipper Mark Kotsay elected to turn to All-Star closer Mason Miller for the ninth inning to keep the game within a one-run deficit, given that he pitched last on Saturday against the San Francisco Giants. The decision ended up being crucial to the A's fate in the game as Miller blew up and allowed three earned runs in less than a full inning of work.

The runs were due to an RBI double from Alec Bohm which scored catcher J.T. Realmuto. Centerfielder Johan Rojas who just made the spectacular catch to keep the Phillies lead would end up extending their lead just less than ten minutes later with an RBI single to score Bohm. To wrap up the scoring for Philadelphia was a Trea Turner RBI single to put the Phillies in front 4-0.

Down by four in the bottom of the ninth inning, Brent Rooker led off the inning with a single, and Shea Langeliers followed it with a walk to give the A's a pair of base runners with nobody out. A good fight by the hot Andujar wouldn't be enough as he chased a pitch in the dirt for a strikeout.

Following the punch-out, the hot home-run hitter Nick Kurtz stepped to the dish, and got ahead early in the count against Jordan Romano. On a 3-1 count sent a fastball deep over the left-centerfield wall for a three-run bomb. This put the A's within 1 of the Phillies.

Luis Urias struck out following the homer, and the A's elected to pinch-hit CJ Alexander into the game for his first at-bat in an A's uniform. He sent a two-strike pitch into right field for his first A's hit, and to keep the ballgame alive. Lawrence Butler would strike out after him to end the game.

This loss extended the A's losing streak to ten games. They will look to avoid extending the streak any further tomorrow with southpaw Jeffrey Springs on the mound. The A's will face off against Philadelphia's Cristopher Sanchez, and will hopefully get their offense going earlier in the game. Sometimes a big hit, like the one that Kurtz provided in a losing effort, can lift a team in the following game.