OAKLAND -- As they have many times this season, the Twins turned to José Berríos, their two-time All-Star, to build off the momentum of Wednesday’s extra-inning win with a strong start. Berrios wasn’t his typical dominant self, but he still battled through a tough A’s lineup for five frames while the bats fell silent in a 7-2 loss to Oakland that sealed their first losing road trip of the season.

The defeat also handed the beat-up Twins their first consecutive series losses of the season, after they also lost two of three to the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field to begin the road trip.

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“I would say it was definitely challenging in some ways, this road trip,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We don’t make excuses, but physically, our guys are out there battling, and we have very few guys I would say at full strength right now. So our guys are just going out there and giving it everything that they have.”

The All-Star break can’t come quickly enough for the Twins, with Marwin Gonzalez banged up and Willians Astudillo, Eddie Rosario and Jake Odorizzi all on the injured list. That’s not to mention the recent injuries to Byron Buxton, Max Kepler and Ehire Adrianza that also tested their depth during this recent stretch.

"Especially as athletes, we have been doing this since February,” Berrios said. “Day by day, grinding, things like that. So I think the four days are going to help us just get some rest and come back strong and get ready for the second half."

With that said, the Twins have set the bar so high with their success during this first half that a 4-6 stretch over their last 10 games qualifies as a slump -- and the Twins have stayed competitive in most of those recent losses.

Thanks to Berrios, Thursday’s loss to the A’s was another one of those competitive losses despite the final score, as the Twins only trailed by one until Oakland’s decisive four-run rally in the eighth. But the 25-year-old right-hander, who was named to his second career All-Star team on Wednesday, didn’t get a chance to finish the most effective first half of his career on a high note.

Berrios didn’t have his best command in his second-shortest start of 2019, which marked the first game this season in which he posted more walks (three) than strikeouts (two). He had completed at least six innings in each of his last seven starts entering Thursday -- all quality starts -- as part of a span in which he had a 2.23 ERA, 42 strikeouts and nine walks.

"I didn't finish the way I wanted to, but I feel good overall,” Berrios said. “Just going to get prepared for the second half that promises a lot of things for us. And just get ready for that."

Though Berrios only allowed six hits, the A’s were able to string together several of those hits in a pair of rallies. Khris Davis hit a leadoff single in the fourth inning and came home on a pair of two-out singles from a pair of former Twins, Robbie Grossman and Chris Herrmann, who were a combined 7-for-8 against their old team on Thursday.

One inning later, Berrios allowed a game-tying homer to Marcus Semien before loading the bases with no outs and allowing the go-ahead run to score on a double play by Mark Canha, though he limited the damage to two runs. That kept the Twins within one run, until Semien’s eighth-inning grand slam helped the A’s pull away.

"[I needed to] just throw more strikes in general,” said Berrios, who threw 54 of his 92 pitches for strikes. “My sinker was moving a lot, and I was just trying to release it in an area where it would land as a strike. Things like that. … I'm satisfied that I was able to get out of that inning. It's just part of baseball. It happens. We didn't get the win today, but we're just getting ready for the next one."

Though the Twins’ young ace avoided the big inning and kept his team in the game, he didn’t get much help from his offense, which only scored on a catcher’s interference with the bases loaded in the first inning and a fifth-inning RBI single by Ehire Adrianza despite knocking 11 hits in the game.

“We obviously didn't get in enough runners, didn't score enough runs,” Baldelli said. “Early on, I thought we swung the bats well. We had good at-bats. We had some opportunities. We didn't eventually get the job done, get those runs in. But we had some good swings.”

Another tough series against the Rangers looms for the Twins before they will get a chance to enjoy the reprieve of the All-Star break, and they will also continue to evaluate Gonzalez’s bruised right big toe once they return to Minneapolis. But the end of a difficult stretch appears near for the Twins, and Baldelli remains confident in his team’s ability to grind to the finish line.

“No matter how your season goes, even when you’re playing really well, it’s hard to not lose three games or four games or five games at some point during the year -- usually more than one time during the year,” Baldelli said. “But our guys, again, have been very resilient and have not really let any sort of negative energy or anything going on from having a tough day or two at the ballpark carry over long term.”