OAKLAND -- While the buzz in Oakland Friday night was about Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz's no-hit bid, A's starter Sonny Gray had quite the start himself.
Gray threw eight innings and allowed just one run on two hits and a walk, striking out four on 98 pitches. But Gray took the loss as the A's fell, 3-1, at the Coliseum, in the first of three Interleague games.
"Boy he was good," manager Bob Melvin said. "He's been consistent with his stuff, but he finally got great results tonight. Usually, when you give up two hits and one run, you're talking about after the game, 'What a great game he pitched.' And he did, but obviously we didn't score some runs for him."
Gray added, "I threw a lot of fastballs -- mixed in a lot of four-seams and two-seams with my heaters and just got a lot of ground balls. That was big, to get ground balls and force them to put it in play early in counts. We played really good defense behind me tonight."
• A's play 4,139th straight game without being no-hit
The lone damage done against Gray came in the second inning, when Johan Camargo doubled to lead off the inning and Dansby Swanson scored him with a double two batters later. In A's catcher Bruce Maxwell's eyes, the Swanson double was the only mistake he made all night.
"He was unconscious tonight," Maxwell said. "Everything was working with him. He wasn't missing spots [except for] the one base hit to score a run early in the game, but he bounced right back. He really was spectacular tonight. Can't really complain about his outing."
It's the second-straight start in which Gray has allowed just a single earned run, earning the win with seven innings of work June 25 at the White Sox. Melvin believes Gray has been good, even if his 1-2 record in the month of June doesn't show it.
"It's all about getting him on a roll," Melvin said. "He's used to going out there and winning. He wants to be in the game deep in the game, where he's part of a decision. It's just about getting him on a roll and winning some games and getting the confidence where it needs to be, because the stuff is definitely there."
But for Gray, with more than 100 career Major League starts since arriving in Oakland in 2013, he'll take the start he had Friday, even if the result doesn't show just how good he was.
"If you can go eight innings, one run and two hits every time out, I think everyone would take that. You're going to win a lot more games than you lose," Gray said. "He was just a little bit better tonight. You're going to be on this end of some games. Hopefully, over the course of a season, you can be on the other end."