Not a good day all around
The Athletics dropped the series finale against the Angels on Wednesday afternoon, falling to their division rivals by a final of 5-2.
Rookie Joey Estes took the ball today for his ninth start of the year. He’s shown promise at time through the first half but also lots of room to grow, specifically in the consistency department.
He faced a bit of trouble from the get-go as the first two batters for the Angels ended up in scoring position. He buckled down and got the next three outs, not allowing either runner to cross the plate. Impressive.
The Angels meanwhile threw out right-hander Roansy Contreras for the start today. Contreras is a former starter but was making his first of the season today. It’d take an inning but the A’s scored today’s first run in the top of the second inning after a Max Shuemann double, but a mental mistake cost the A’s a second run here:
Kyle McCann was called out after failing to touch the plate and then proceeding to make contact with Armando Alvarez before going back to touch home pic.twitter.com/p046l0Mdxa
— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) June 26, 2024
McCann can not miss home plate there. That mistake ended the inning on a sour note after what should have been a positive outcome. It cost the A’s a run and Estes a bit more breathing room.
Not that he really needed it. Over the next four innings Estes would only allow one walk, keeping the Angels hitters guessing as he also collected six strikeouts.
It wasn’t until the sixth that Los Angeles really finally started to get to him again. After allowing a leadoff hit and walk his day was done. It was Austin Adams’ turn after Estes. Though he’d been so reliable all year today was not his day as he allowed five runs to cross the plate, including both of Estes’ runners. That quickly turned a 1-0 lead into a 5-1 deficit.
It just wasn’t Oakland’s day today. A late rally saw Oakland get their second run (again thanks to Shuemann), but ultimately came up short in today’s series finale.
Sigh. Another sweep. The club has now lost five straight and are looking like a lost team at the moment. Luckily they get an off day tomorrow before continuing the road trip.
Next up: a trip to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks for a quick three-game series. It’ll be lefty JP Sears taking the ball against an unknown starter as of this posting. I like our chances to break this streak with Sears on the mound.
