Kotsay not reaching for panic button over A's early offensive struggles

ATLANTA -- A bad start to the season got even worse for the Athletics on Monday.

They entered the second series of their 2026 slate -- a three-game set with the Braves -- licking their wounds after falling to 0-3 at the hands of the Blue Jays to open the season.

The Braves did not have sympathy for the A’s and their struggling offense.

The A’s scored just 11 runs in three games against Toronto, and the offensive struggles continued as Atlanta blanked the A’s, 4-0, at Truist Park. The 11 runs scored is tied for fourth lowest in the league after four games.

“Overall, we just couldn’t get a hit with runners in scoring position,” said manager Mark Kotsay. “A lot of times these games are dictated by that big hit, especially with two outs. We had traffic. I thought in terms of the offense [not getting] that big hit is what it boiled down to tonight.”

The A’s went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base -- including three stranded with runners in scoring position with two outs -- as they opened the season 0-4 for the first time since 2021, when they got off to an 0-6 start.

When it rains, it pours for a struggling offense. After the Braves scored three runs in the first inning, Atlanta native Lawrence Butler made his Truist Park debut with a two-out single in the second inning. Braves starting pitcher Bryce Elder, however, erased the baserunner with his first career pickoff after 436 1/3 career innings.

“It was early in the game,” Kotsay said. “Down three in the third inning, we’re still going to try to be aggressive. With two outs, he was trying to get into scoring position for us.”

Butler hit into one of the Athletics’ two late double plays, but the most costly double play was Brent Rooker’s. With runners on first and second and one out in the top of the eighth, Rooker grounded into a 6-4-3 twin killing to end the scoring threat.

“The double-play balls hurt tonight,” Kotsay said. “Those kill innings and it was unfortunate that the few times we felt like we had a leadoff guy on, we hit into those.”

The Athletics’ 50 strikeouts over their first three games were the most by any American League or National League team (since 1898) in such a span. They added seven more strikeouts to that total on Monday.

The A’s have struggled with Elder the prior two times they faced the right-hander, who had a 1-0 record with a 1.93 ERA over 14 innings in his career against the A’s. Elder continued his strong work against them on Monday, as he struck out five and walked one over a scoreless six innings.

“He was backdooring the sinker to our righties -- starting it off the plate -- and it was really working well,” Kotsay said. “He had a lot of movement working with that pitch tonight and threw it effectively to keep us off balance.”

Kotsay isn’t planning on making any drastic tweaks to the lineup after just four games.

“It’s just four games into the season,” Kotsay said. “We’re not gonna hit the panic button by any measure. You go through these stretches during the middle of the year.”