ST. LOUIS -- Luck wasn’t exactly on the A’s side in their series finale against the Cardinals on Wednesday night at Busch Stadium.
Outfielders Brent Rooker and Tyler Soderstrom each lost a ball in the lights, leading to four runs scoring in a 5-1 loss.
Jeffrey Springs turned in a quality start but was denied a win for a sixth straight outing.
“Jeffrey threw the ball well,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “We had a couple opportunities to make plays. We lost balls in the lights … if we make plays, it's a different game. So, it's unfortunate. It happens.”
Springs took the tough-luck loss, limiting the Cardinals to just two runs in six innings -- his longest outing since August 6. He allowed five hits, struck out four and walked one.
A two-out, two-run single in the third by Willson Contreras, which Rooker couldn’t track in the lights, was the only damage Springs allowed.
“Had a good read on it,” Rooker said. “Felt like I was tracking it, and then just kind of went in that light tower. And I tried to wait for it to come out and make a play, and it just never kind of came out. Sucks. I got to find a way to make that catch.”
Soderstrom lost another drive off Contreras’ bat in the lights in left field in the eighth inning, which led to two more runs.
Springs is still looking for his first win since July 30. In his six starts since, he has gone 0-3 with a 4.65 ERA.
“It's kind of been an up-and-down year as far as how my stuff's playing and from like, the metrics, the spin efficiency, location. It's kind of, you name it, I've kind of had to deal with it throughout the season,” Springs said. “But the focus today was trying to get the fastball to carry back and try to establish that.”
While the team has lost five of his last six starts, the A’s bats have totaled just 14 runs in those games.
For a second straight night, the A’s bats couldn’t find the big hit to turn the game around, going just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
“Offensively, you're going to go through these stretches,” Kotsay said. “It's two games. We got an off-day tomorrow. We're going to Anaheim. We'll focus on that series.”
Nick Kurtz blasted his 28th homer in the eighth and the A’s seemed primed to add on after a Rooker double and a single by Soderstrom. But Zack Gelof struck out and Darell Hernaiz grounded to third and was thrown out on a close play prompting Kotsay to challenge the call unsuccessfully.
The trainers checked out Kurtz after catching a ball awkwardly on a pickoff attempt in the eighth. He stayed in the game and the X-rays were negative.
“I was getting ready to hit in the ninth,” Kurtz said.
Rooker had three hits, including a pair of doubles. It was his team-high 43rd multihit game of the season and he has six doubles in his last eight games.
“I missed some pitches last night, I felt like I was a little late on, so I just wanted to make sure and move the contact point a little bit more up front tonight, try to get a little bit more on time,” Rooker said. “Was able to do that and put some good swings on some pitches in the middle of the plate.”
Even with the loss, Springs’ start does continue an encouraging trend through the first three games of this road trip for the A’s starting rotation.
Coming into St. Louis, the A’s starters were 1-4 with a 7.91 ERA in their previous seven games. In the three games against the Cardinals, Luis Morales, Luis Severino and Springs combined for a 1-1 record with a 2.15 ERA.
“It's great to get these type of starts,” Kotsay said. “It's unfortunate that we can't get wins out of these starts. Ultimately, offensively, when you score one run back-to-back nights, you're not going to win a lot of games.”
Springs said consistency is the key.
“We have a really good offense,” Springs said. “We got a really good team. And it starts with the starting pitching. We need to go out there and [go] five, six, seven quality innings and give us a chance to win.”