'We just didn't do it': A's offense falls short

First up on the A’s list of lofty goals for this season is to repeat as American League West champions. It was a feat they achieved with ease in 2020, finishing seven games ahead of the Astros. But they appear to be heading towards a much more competitive division race this time around.

In the 10th meeting between the two rivals on Thursday, Oakland struggled to hold down a potent Houston offense in a 8-4 loss at the Coliseum. The defeat swapped positions between the two sides in the standings, with the A’s (26-19) dropping into second place for the first time since April 18, now a half-game behind.

“There’s a lot of season left. Typically, these things flip back and forth,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “[The Astros] have played well here recently and are on a hot streak right now.”

Cole Irvin -- who has turned into quite the revelation -- has been dominant against most clubs he’s faced this year. In three matchups against Houston, however, he’s taken the loss in all three instances. His five runs allowed in five innings dug the A’s into an early hole that was too big to overcome.

Irvin's ERA in those three outings against the Astros now sits at 7.98 across 14 2/3 innings, as opposed to a 1.89 ERA over 38 innings in his six starts against all other teams. Exacerbating the frustrations on the mound was the damage done by the bottom of the order. Martín Maldonado -- Houston’s No. 9 hitter -- was responsible for three of those runs allowed by Irvin, with an RBI double in the third and a two-run homer in the fourth.

“The way I look at it, it was an embarrassing outing,” Irvin said. “I just need to be more convicted in that bottom of the lineup. That’s where you have to get your outs against a lineup like theirs, with five or six guys that can do damage. I didn’t make a good pitch to Maldonado all day.”

Irvin was not the only pitcher left searching for answers against this hot Astros club, which has now won eight of its last nine contests. Dropping two of three to Houston, Oakland's pitchers allowed a total of 42 hits over this three-game series, which accumulated to a .356 batting average.

“They make you work and throw a lot of pitches,” Melvin said. “We do the same thing when we’re swinging really good. We came back to win on the first night and they just kept putting pressure on us the last couple of days.

“We were going to have to put up a bunch of runs on the board, and we just didn’t do it.”

Though Mark Canha, Tony Kemp and Seth Brown each clubbed a solo homer on Thursday, the trending issues on offense were highlighted over the past few games. Oakland’s hitters went 1-for-18 for the series with runners in scoring position, struggling to find that clutch hit in the big moments.

It’s no secret the A’s rely heavily on the long ball. They’re at their best when they hit bombs, leading the AL with 59 homers. But an improvement on situational hitting is going to be essential for their success over the course of the year.

“You’re going to have to win games where, at times, it’s low-scoring and good pitching,” Melvin said. “You’re going to have to do some things in different ways. The days that we manufacture runs and get key hits with runners in scoring position, those games make you feel like you don’t necessarily need to hit home runs all the time to win.”

After seeing plenty of the Astros over the early portion of the schedule, the two teams will take a respite from head-to-head matchups until July 6. So far, Oakland is 3-7 in those meetings, which is a complete flip from its 7-3 record against Houston over last year’s 60-game season. But even as they’ve been outscored by 28 runs (59-31) in these first 10 games, the A’s remain confident in reaching their desired destination atop the AL West standings by season’s end. It just might take more of a bumpier ride to get there.

“You can’t even argue it. That team over there can hit,” Kemp said. “They can straight up bang at the plate. They’re competitive and have the will to win, just like we do. But I like where our team is right now. We just have to continue to put good at-bats together.

“It’s May, so we’ve got a couple more months left. I think everybody is just strapping it on.”