A’s fall just short of Royals sweep

Despite a strong effort from Mitch Spence, the Oakland Athletics ended up just one run away from sweeping the Kansas City Royals.

Bringing a 3.69 ERA/3.31 FIP as a starter into today’s outing, the A’s latest Rule 5 success story threw 6 innings of two-run ball while striking out 7 Royals along the way. His only real blemishes were a pair of solo homers allowed to his new nemesis, DH Freddy Fermin. Oakland’s lineup, unfortunately, was unable to back Spence up with any offense, letting the Royals carry a 2-0 lead into the 7th inning.

But finally, the A’s battled back with 2 outs in the bottom half of the inning, sparked by a couple of Oakland youngsters. Recently recalled Lawrence Butler started the late-game rally with a pulled line drive double to right field. Zack Gelof, coming off two straight games with a homerun after struggling for much of the season, made it a third game in a row, using his signature easygoing barrel swing to launch a slider deep to center field until it finally landed just in front of the “Holy Toledo!” sign. Just like that, the A’s were back in the game, tied 2-2 with the Royals.

However, as has been the case throughout Oakland’s recent slide, the A’s fought back only to give up the game late. After pitching a scoreless 7th, reliever Vinny Nittoli gave up a big solo shot to superstar Bobby Witt, Jr., giving up the winning run and ending the A’s winning streak at two.

The A’s continue to be right there but not all the way there. However, with Soderstrom and Gelof finally heating up and Butler looking to do the same, Oakland finally has a supporting cast that can support Brent Rooker, Miguel Andujar, and, dare I say, JJ Bleday in the middle of the lineup. While the brooms got put away, it may not be long before they’re needed again.