The Athletics were face-to-face with the team they want to be when they grow up and learned that making up the difference could take longer than anyone imagined.
The Tampa Bay Rays completed a three-game devastation of the A’s Sunday at Tropicana Field, winning 11-0 for their ninth straight victory.
The A’s slink out of town en route to Baltimore having been outscored 31-5 over three games. The Athletics were not only dominated by a far superior team, but made it infinitely easier for the Rays to make history because of their poor defense and an endless supply of free baserunners.
Tampa Bay improved to 9-0, a season-opening streak that is unprecedented in that the Rays have won every game by four or more runs and have a run differential of plus-57. The news got worse for the A’s when it was learned outfielder Seth Brown sustained an oblique injury and needs to be placed on the injured list, according to MLB.com.
The A’s fall to 2-7, having had to wear 11-0 defeats on back-to-back days against a Rays team with a modest payroll and a stadium they’d like to leave, yet has been to the postseason for the last four years.
“Obviously this team is playing really well,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay told reporters. “There’s a reason why they’re undefeated. But we came in here and I thought we played pretty good baseball against Cleveland, [but] we’ve got to put this series behind us.”
The Athletics were at least spared the indignity of a no-hitter, thanks to Ramon Laureano’s opposite-field double to right in the second inning. They wouldn’t get another one, with Drew Rasmussen (2-0) pitching seven innings of shutout ball and relievers Ryan Thompson and Jason Adam finishing up.
From the last out of the second inning to a leadoff walk in the ninth by Conner Capel, Rasmussen and Co. retired 19 straight A’s hitters.
Tampa Bay tagged A’s starting pitcher James Kaprielian (0-2) for seven hits and seven earned runs in 4 2/3 innings, including home runs by Wander Franco in the first (his fourth), a grand slam by Brandon Lowe in the fourth (his second) and a two-run shot by Harold Ramirez in the fifth (his third).
A’s pitchers gave up 11 home runs in the series, contributing to Tampa Bay’s major league-leading total of 24 — the second most ever in a team’s first nine games.
Yet Kaprielian deserved much better than he got in the four-run fourth when Lowe’s grand slam was the only ball hit out of the infield.
“The fourth inning kind of dictated the game, really,” Kotsay said.
The inning started when Kaprielian hit Isaac Paredes with a pitch, followed by an infield single on a chopper to third by Ramirez. Kaprielian retired Josh Lowe and Manuel Margot on fly balls, and got Christian Bethancourt on a bouncer to shortstop that should have ended the inning.
Ramirez, however, got a good jump toward second base. Shortstop Aledmys Diaz fielded the ball cleanly but his lob toss to Tony Kemp at second was too late to get Ramirez. It went as a fielder’s choice, loading the bases.
Brandon Lowe followed by taking a high and outside pitch to the opposite field for the grand slam and a 5-0 lead.
“We didn’t do a great job on the defensive side right there,” Kemp told reporters. “We’ve got to get some outs when we can. The ball didn’t roll our way today and we’ve got to shore up some things. It’s good to get the bad things out of the way now. It was a tough series for us, we have stay positive, stay confident and keep moving forward.”
NOTABLE
— After getting 12 hits in the series opener, the A’s had four hits in the last 18 innings against Tampa pitching, have had six hits or fewer in seven of nine games and are hitting .192 as a team (56-for-291).
— Trevor May, signed to give the A’s late-inning relief, walked four batters in 2/3 of an inning and gave up two earned runs.
— A’s pitching in the series gave up 19 walks and five hit batters for 24 free baserunners in 24 innings.
— Brown, who led the A’s with 25 home runs last season and was getting a shot to play regularly against left-handers for the first time, reported to work with pain in his rib cage area after a check swing on Saturday.
Brown’s replacement on the roster, as reported by MLB.com, will be infielder Kevin Smith. Smith hit .395 (17-for-43) in Cactus League games. Playing for the Las Vegas Aviators in the Pacific Coast League, Smith went in to Sunday’s game hitting .300 with five home runs, 12 RBIs, an .833 slugging percentage and a 1.215 OPS.
Pitching matchups vs. Baltimore
Monday: JP Sears (0-0, 5.79 vs. Kyle Gibson (2-0, 4.50), 3:35 p.m.; Tuesday: Kyle Muller (0-0, 2.53) vs. Grayson Rodriguez (0-0, 3.60), 3:35 p.m.; Wednesday: Ken Waldichuk (0-2, 14.54) vs. Dean Kremer (0-0, 10.13), 3:35 p.m.; Thursday: TBA vs. Cole Irvin (0-0, 9.35), 10:05 a.m.
