Homers power Padres to halt A's streak at 4
OAKLAND -- One day after scoring a season-high 16 runs, the A's scored just one Thursday in a 3-1 loss to the Padres at the Coliseum.
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"That's baseball for you," A's catcher Josh Phegley said.
Padres starter Ian Kennedy allowed one run in six innings, and San Diego won its first game under new interim manager Pat Murphy. The A's missed out on their first five-game winning streak of the season as the teams split the two-game series.
Video: SD@OAK: Kennedy allows one run over six frames
"This series, the new manager stuff, it's been kind of an awkward series," Kennedy said. "Especially playing two there and two here. I really hope that it does get us off to a good start, and hopefully we can keep building off this for the rest of the road trip."
Three of the game's four runs came on solo homers to left, as Matt Kemp homered in the fourth, Derek Norris went yard in the top of the sixth and Phegley hit a line-drive shot in the bottom of the frame. Justin Upton drove in Melvin Upton Jr. with a sacrifice fly in foul ground in the eighth after Upton Jr. tripled to start the inning.
Video: SD@OAK: Upton Jr. ropes a triple into right-center
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Solo shots: Norris made the first start of his career at first base without incident, and it appears the position change didn't affect him at the plate. He led off the top of the sixth with a solo shot to left field just inside the foul pole against Graveman. Kemp has now hit two homers in his past three games and has recorded 25 of his 35 RBIs on the road this year.
Video: SD@OAK: Norris smashes a solo homer to left field
"I haven't played here much, but this is my first home run here," Kemp said. "Hopefully I can get one in every ballpark before I'm done playing baseball. We'll see." More >
Same old story: A's starter Kendall Graveman allowed two runs in seven innings. He has allowed just four total runs in his past three starts, but he has not picked up a win in any of them. The A's, who scored 39 runs in their four previous games, couldn't give Graveman much support.
Video: SD@OAK: Graveman strikes out six over seven innings
"A game like that, you give up a couple runs, you expect to be in a little better position," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "We just didn't do enough offensively off Kennedy to get [Graveman] on the other side of that." More >
Foul sac fly: The Padres scored an insurance run in the eighth when A's first baseman Stephen Vogt decided to make a play on a Upton fly ball deep in foul territory. Vogt made a nice running catch near the Padres' bullpen but couldn't throw out Upton Jr., who tripled to record his first extra-base hit of the season.
Video: SD@OAK: Upton plates Upton Jr. on a sacrifice fly
Outfield collision: Josh Reddick and Billy Burns collided on the warning track in right-center field in the eighth inning. They both sprinted full speed for a ball hit by Upton Jr., and Burns' left elbow went into Reddick's face. Reddick, who was also hit in the groin, was on the ground for a few minutes, talking with a trainer and Melvin. He stayed in the game, and Upton drove in Upton Jr. two at-bats later.
Video: SD@OAK: Reddick collides with Burns, remains in
"It wasn't as bad as everybody had anticipated," Reddick said. "It was just a knee to the wrong section of the body. That's all it was." More >
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Burns extended his hitting streak to nine games, and he's hit safely in 21 of his past 22.
WHAT'S NEXT
Padres: Veteran right-hander James Shields (7-0, 3.59 ERA) will look to keep his perfect record intact when he takes the mound for Friday's road matchup (6:40 p.m. PT) at Arizona. Shields endured one of his worst starts of the year against the Diamondbacks on May 8, when he gave up a season-high-tying five earned runs over six innings of work.
Athletics: Sonny Gray (8-3, 1.60 ERA) takes the hill for the A's against the Angels in the first of a three-game set at the Coliseum on Friday. Gray entered Thursday's game with the lowest ERA in the Majors. The Angels took two of three from the A's when the teams met in Anaheim from June 12-14.
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