Oakland A’s mash Twins All-Star, but pitching woes lead to sixth straight loss

OAKLAND – Oakland could not take advantage of a poor outing by Minnesota’s All-Star pitcher Pablo Lopez as the Twins defeated the A’s 10-7 on Saturday afternoon.

The Twins, courtesy of two runs in each of the first three innings, handed their ace a 6-0 lead. Carlos Correa had an RBI single and Michael Taylor hit his 11th home run of the season during this early-game explosion.

Using home runs, bunts, steals and other extra-base hits, the A’s scratched a season-high seven earned runs off Lopez to come all the way back.

The teams were level at 7-7 entering the top of the seventh, but the Twins pulled away late. Kyle Farmer, who went 3 for 4, hit his fifth home run of the season to break the tie before the Twins tacked on two more in the final innings.

“Offensively, there were a lot of good signs today,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said about a team that averages a league-worst 3.58 runs-per-game. “Anytime you can put up seven runs in a game against that kind of starter, you’re generally going to have a good chance to win.”

Hogan Harris pitched four innings in relief after Austin Pruitt opened the game with one inning of work. Harris allowed five earned runs and walked three in four innings.

“We’ve really got to eliminate walks overall,” Harris said. “I mean, it seems that every time I’m walking someone, they’re scoring one way or the other.”

Oakland (25-69) pounded an ace that entered the game with a 3.89 ERA. Seth Brown and Ryan Noda, perhaps assisted by the warm air brought into the Bay Area by a heat wave, hit their ninth and 10th home runs of the season in the bottom of the fourth.

Willi Castro stole home in the top of the fifth to extend the Twins lead to 7-4, but the A’s did not quit. Helping to lead the comeback were a trio of youngsters.

Top prospect Tyler Soderstrom got the at catcher for the A’s and collected the first hits of his career during a 2-4 day at the plate. He became the youngest catcher to start a game in the major leagues at 21 years and 233 days old.

“I think he did great and called a good game,” Harris said. “I think I may have shook him off twice, so we were on the same page for the most part pretty much the whole time.”

23 year-old Zack Gelof hit the first triple of his career in the third inning and scored two runs. Lastly was 24-year-old speedster Nick Allen, a second-year player who was 2 for 3, got both hits off bunts and drove in two RBIs.

After driving in three runs during the first half of the season, Allen has already reached that mark in two games post-All Star game.

“It’s about being comfortable, taking a deep breath and understanding what you want to do and not trying to expand,” Allen said.

Lopez (5-5) finished the day with a final stat line of  seven earned runs allowed off eight hits and three walks with seven strikeouts. Jovani Moran (2-2) earned the win and Oakland’s Freddy Tarnok (0-1) was saddled with a loss in his A’s debut.  

“The walks came back to hurt him, but overall I thought his performance was OK,” Kotsay said after Tarnok went 2.2 innings with two earned runs and three walks. “I felt he kept us in the game.”

The A’s have now lost at least six games in a row for the fifth time this season and is now halfway to equaling their worst skid of 11 consecutive defeats. The AL Central-leading Minnesota will attempt to go two games over .500 at 1:07 p.m. on Sunday.