The magical month of August of the A finally fell back to earth Monday night.
Riding on a winning streak of nine games in the first game of their series against the Los Angeles Angels, the A’s blew a four-run lead and lost 10-9.
A win for the A’s would have given Oakland a 10-game winning streak, which, when they were in front over a standard 162-game season, would have been the equivalent of a 27-game winning streak. The MLB record was set by the 1916 New York Giants at 26, while the 2017 Cleveland Indians have the AL’s best winning streak at 22 games.
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The Angels jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but Oakland rushed back on the power of two home runs from Matt Chapman as the A’s led 9-4 to the top of the fourth inning. Chapman also cleared the bases in that inning with a triple, producing six RBI overall in the losing effort.
But three-time AL MVP Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani brought some power of their own, as a Trout homer in the fourth and an Ohtani bomb in the sixth brought the Angels even to nine.
The A’s batters went quiet after the strong play after a strong start, and Trout gave the Angels the lead with a towering solo home run by Yusmeiro Petit in the bottom of the eighth.
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Southpaw Sean Manaea fought mightily against the potent Angels lineup, passing four runs on seven hits in just two and two-thirds of an inning before manager Bob Melvin went to the bullpen.
“I did not think his goods were bad, I think he should just fight this through this,” Melvin told reporters after the loss.
After an emotional weekend series against rival Houston Astros, including a bench-breaking brawl Sunday that is likely to result in some discipline for outfielder Ramón Laureano, the As could not maintain a strong start and ended their winning streak at nine games.
Oakland still leads the AL West by 4.5 games over the Astros, who have won the division in each of the past two seasons.
Mike Fiers will be on the hook on Tuesday against Angels pitcher Dylan Bundy as Oakland looks back at the winning streak.
