'One more hit' eludes A's after Irvin struggles

OAKLAND -- Cole Irvin's aggressive style of pitching turned him into a revelation earlier this season. But that same quality has now worked against him as of late.

The left-hander’s penchant for pounding the zone with strikes was taken advantage of by Mariners hitters on Tuesday night, with the four runs he allowed through the game’s first four innings being too much for the A’s to overcome in a 4-3 loss at the Coliseum.

Turning in his shortest outing since April 3, Irvin gave up a season-high 10 hits and was pulled with just two outs in the fifth. After an impressive showing of consistency with a stretch in which he posted a 2.49 ERA over seven starts, he’s followed that with nine runs on 18 hits in his last two.

“He’s been up in the zone his last couple of outings. Not his best command,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “Just going through a little bit of a two-game rut with command. He hung in there, but not his best stuff again.”

For the second straight night, an A’s starter put the club in an early deficit before the offense even went up to bat. Irvin surrendered back-to-back RBI singles to Ty France and J.P. Crawford in the first. Seattle drove in another pair of runs against him in the fourth on a double by Tom Murphy and Jarred Kelenic’s RBI single.

The main issue that has left Irvin puzzled over this rough stretch has been his lack of efficiency against left-handed hitters. He’s defied the traditional splits that are common with left-handed pitchers. Entering the night, righties were hitting just .231 against him, as opposed to a .306 batting average by lefties. On Tuesday, Mariners left-handed hitters were responsible for six hits and two RBIs against Irvin.

So how does he plan to correct those issues against lefties?

“What’s worked for me in the past is getting inside on them,” Irvin said. “My approach might be a little too soft where I’m pitching away and leaving one slider up or fastball where it shouldn’t be and getting hit around. I’ve always had success against lefties, so that’s something I need to rethink -- how I’m attacking hitters.

“There’s a lot of film [to watch] and work to [do to] make sure nights like tonight don’t happen again.”

The game-tying hit eluded Oakland’s offense throughout the night, though there were a couple of instances where a spectacular defensive effort by Seattle prevented a momentum swing.

Trailing by two runs in the fifth with runners at first and second, Ramón Laureano crushed a two-out line drive that appeared ticketed for extra bases and the game-tying run possibly scoring -- until Kyle Lewis raced back on the ball that was scorched 101.7 mph off the bat with an xBA of .770 and made an excellent catch on the run near the warning track in center field to deny the threat and end the inning.

After Laureano manufactured a run in the eighth by doubling and scoring from second on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to one run, it was Sean Murphy’s turn to get robbed of a potential game-tying hit. His 99.7 mph drive to deep right field with two outs was snagged on a perfectly timed leap at the wall by Mitch Haniger, stranding Matt Olson at second base. That flyout had an xBA of .460.

"It’s the difference in the game,” Melvin said. “When you have one-run games like that, it’s a small margin for error. If either of those balls get down, it’s a different ballgame. You have to give them credit. They made some great plays. Sometimes, that decides the game for you.”

The A’s -- who lead the Majors with five walk-off victories -- made one more attempt at a late comeback in the ninth. Elvis Andrus singled with two outs for his third hit of the night, but he and Mark Canha were stranded at the corners to end the ballgame on a groundout by Seth Brown. The offense was unable to cash in on what was an encouraging bounce-back by the bullpen after recent struggles, with Burch Smith, Reymin Guduan, Sergio Romo and Lou Trivino combining to allow one hit over 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Irvin.

“We held them there and gave ourselves a chance,” Melvin said. “We always feel like when we get to the ninth inning with a chance to win, that we’re going to win. A lot of times, we do. We just didn’t come up with one more hit tonight.”