OAKLAND -- Ivan Nova is too good to be pitching like this.

That thought inevitably arises after a game such as Friday night’s, when Nova surrendered 10 hits through six innings in a 5-1 loss to the Athletics.

Nova has been a near-constant asset to his teams. He finished with a losing record only twice In his previous eight full Major League seasons. And in one of his sub-.500 years, he managed to win 11 games for Pittsburgh in 2017. His 82-72 career mark speaks for itself.

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Thus, Nova’s 4-8 record and 5.60 ERA this season might seem perplexing. Those figures clash with his average of 2.2 walks per nine innings, which suggests that he has maintained decent command.

The right-hander was victorious in his final start before the All-Star break, ending a personal seven-game winless stretch. He blanked the Cubs for 5 2/3 innings in that one, generating hope that he could duplicate the surge to the finish line that he sustained last year. In 2018, he went 4-3 with a 3.86 ERA in 11 starts with Pittsburgh after the All-Star break, compared to 5-6, 4.38 beforehand.

There’s still time for Nova to excel. In fact, he already may have begun his turnaround. Since posting a 7.42 ERA in his first nine starts, he has compiled a 4.14 ERA in his last 10.

“The first two months really killed me,” Nova said. “But I’m pitching better.”

White Sox manager Rick Renteria pointed out that Nova would have received credit for a quality start had he yielded one fewer run.

“He kept us in the ballgame,” Renteria said. “He gave us a chance.”

Nova couldn’t cool down the A’s, who have homered in 13 consecutive games while totaling 30 round-trippers in that span. They belted three home runs off Nova, accounting for all but one of the four runs he yielded in six innings. Ramon Laureano and Jurickson Profar homered back-to-back in the second inning before Mark Canha drilled a leadoff long ball in the sixth.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Nova said of his outing, though he admitted that Laureano’s homer came on a “slider that didn’t do anything.”

Nova and Renteria credited Profar for golfing a low pitch over the right-field barrier.

Offensively, the White Sox were overmatched by A’s starter Mike Fiers (9-3), who blanked them for 7 2/3 innings. The White Sox mustered multiple mini-rallies against Fiers, who extinguished each and every threat. Chicago went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Said Renteria, “We put some pretty good at-bats together. We got some guys on base. We strung some things together but obviously weren’t able to get a big hit.”

Renteria noted that Fiers thrived with an assortment of low breaking balls and elevated fastballs before concluding, “He just pitched. And he pitched very well.”