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Oakland Athletics: White Sox, Yoan Moncada bash Oakland

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The story of the Oakland Athletics’ 10-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox was simple: one team took advantage with runners in scoring position and the other d
The story of the Oakland Athletics’ 10-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox was simple: one team took advantage with runners in scoring position and the other didn’t.
After Mark Canha led off the top of the fifth with a solo homer — giving the A’s a Major League-record 25th straight road game with a home run — they had men on second and third with nobody out but failed to cash in. Franklin Barreto’s double set up the top of the lineup to break the game open, but Marcus Semien grounded out, Chad Pinder struck out and Jed Lowrie popped out to end the threat.
In the bottom of the fifth, Paul Blackburn had the bases empty with two outs after Tim Anderson was caught stealing, but unlike the visitors, the White Sox would create an opportunity and take advantage of it. Back-to-back two-strike singles by Omar Narvaez and Leury Garcia got the ball rolling, and Adam Engel was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Yoan Moncada, who smoked a three-run double to give Chicago (26-51) the lead. Avisail Garcia and Jose Abreu followed with RBI singles to make it a five-run frame, with only Abreu getting thrown out at second to stop the bleeding.
Things would only get worse in the sixth. Blackburn would allow a homer to Daniel Palka to start the inning, and things would be turned over to Liam Hendriks from there.
With Bobby Wahl and other relievers dominating at Triple-A Nashville, Hendriks’ roster spot may be in jeopardy after Sunday’s outing, in which he allowed four runs on a solo homer by Yolmer Sanchez and a three-run shot by Moncada, giving the young Cuban six RBI on the day.
Blackburn finished with six runs allowed on eight hits over five-plus innings. He didn’t allow a walk and struck out four.
Oakland (40-38) could hardly hit Carlos Rodon, who allowed the Canha homer and a run in the third inning on a Canha sacrifice fly after Stephen Piscotty doubled. Canha was also at the plate for the game’s final run, which scored on a wild pitch in the ninth inning.
Though Hendriks struggled, Josh Lucas pitched two solid innings to save the rest of the A’s bullpen. With Edwin Jackson pitching Monday’s series opener in Detroit, seven bullpen innings yesterday and a doubleheader the day before, Lucas was able to provide much-needed rest for a relief corps that won’t have a day off until next Monday.

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