The AL West division is neatly dividing itself in half heading into the All Star Break as the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners were swept in four-game series by the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels, respectively. The A’s dropped a 2-0 decision in the series finale and now stand 12 games back of first having lost 13 of 18 games since their five game winning streak.
The game was more of the same for the A’s as Trevor Cahill put together a very solid effort but got zero support. Cahill went 7 2/3 innings giving up two runs on five hits and two walks. For most pitchers that is a winnable outing. For Cahill, that results in not quite enough as A’s pitchers have zero margin for error with an offense that is absolutely abysmal.
The A’s managed six hits and one walk and had a runner in scoring position twice the entire game. Naturally the A’s could not get the necessary timely hits to bring in these runners leading to yet another low scoring affair. The A’s head into the All Star break with a lot of questions and very few answers. The pitching remains top notch, but the hitting just isn’t there.