A's Still Searching For Key Hit to Break Out of Losing Streak

The start to Wednesday night's game between the A's and Los Angeles Angels started off promising, with the green and gold loading the bases on three walks against starter Jack Kochanowicz. He ended up throwing 21 pitches in the first inning, seven of which were strikes. The A's were just unable to capitalize.

In the top of the second, their most consistent starter this season, JP Sears, gave up a two-run homer to catcher Logan O'Hoppe. The immediate feeling was that the A's had squandered a golden opportunity, and the losing streak would continue.

But Lawrence Butler changed that feeling when he drilled a three-run homer to put the A's in the lead, 3-2. That lead would be short lived, as the Angels would add another two-run homer, this time from shortstop Zach Neto, to re-take the lead in the third. The A's would get runners on first and second with two outs in their half, but failed to score.

The Angels responded with Logan O'Hoppe and Jo Adell hitting back-to-back home runs to lead off the fourth inning, the first time the club has gone back-to-back this season. A once slim lead for the green and gold was suddenly a 6-3 deficit.

The team still fought back to make it 6-5, thanks to a pair of moon shots from No. 1 prospect Nick Kurtz, his first multi-homer game, but the A's bullpen let this one get away late yet again, with the score ending up at 10-5.

The A's had their opportunities in this one, ultimately leaving 13 runners on base. A's manager Mark Kotsay spoke after the game about coming through when those opportunities present themselves.

"I had a coach, his name was Rene Lachemann, and he always used to scream about, 'hey, if you get a two out hit, we'll get you to play late into October.' And that's pretty true, because tonight we had [opportunities] in the first four innings with two outs and runners in scoring position. Bases loaded, first and third, man on second, and we didn't get the hit.

"You get that two out hit, that carries momentum, and it also adds to runs, right? I think those opportunities came, needing a big hit, and those aren't easy to get."

There was also a key sequence in the seventh inning, where after Kurtz had made it a one-run ballgame with the second of his two homers, Luis Urîas was able to leg out a single on a ball back to the pitcher, and Seth Brown was able to draw a walk on five pitches.

The Angels brought in Héctor Neris, and with the club down by a run, the A's wanted to move the runners over and turn the lineup over, so shortstop Max Schuemann was asked to bunt. Unfortunately, he bunted towards first baseman Nolan Schanuel, who was playing in, and he was able to fire across the diamond to get the lead runner.

At that point in the game, Schuemann was 3-for-3 with three singles. It's easy to second guess any call in retrospect, but perhaps letting the shortstop take a swing would have been the better play, given that the A's are looking for a spark. That spark isn't going to come off a bunt that advances the runners 90 feet.

Instead, the spark could have been lit by Schuemann collecting yet another hit that potentially scores the run from second. He was in the starting lineup after Jacob Wilson was hit just below the wrist on Tuesday night, so to get that big hit from Schuemann, who hasn't had a lot of opportunities this season, would have been huge.

There's no guarantee that he would have gotten that hit, either, but Neris entered the game with a 15.43 ERA. Let the hot hitter swing the bat and be aggressive.

Wilson said before the game that he's optimistic that he'll be in the lineup in the next couple of games.

The A's will continue to search for that big hit on Thursday, when the A's and Angels wrap up their series with a scheduled 12:35 p.m. (PT) start. The Angels have won the first three games, pushing their win streak to six, and the team the A's welcome over the weekend, the Philadelphia Phillies, is also riding a six-game win streak.

The A's are due for a breakout game, and they're inching closer to getting the hit that will open the floodgates for them.