The Athletics may have left Houston behind, but they’ve still got a problem.
Left-hander Cole Ragans kept A’s bats in silent mode Friday night, with the Kansas City Royals winning 6-2 at Kaufman Stadium.
Ragans (3-3) gave up just two hits in seven innings — a single by Abraham Toro and a double to J.J. Bleday — walking two and striking out seven. Chris Stratton pitched the eighth, and Matt Sauer the ninth for Kansas City.
The A’s snapped a 158-at-bat homerless streak in the top of the ninth when Shea Langeliers hit a two-run home run against Sauer, his 10th of the season.
A’s manager Mark Kotsay did his best to look for the positive in an offense that had just four hits.
“Toro got a couple of hits, Bleday smoked a ball off Ragans for a double and Shea steps up and hits a two-run home run to put us at least on the board,” Kotsay said. “We need to continue to grind at-bats out and find some offense, really.”
Coming on the heels of being dominated in four games by the Houston Astros, the A’s loss was their sixth straight, which extends their longest winless streak of the season. They’ve now lost eight of the last nine and 11 of their last 13 games in falling to 19-28.
Kansas City, which lost 106 games last season, is 27-19. The Royals got home runs from Michael Massey, his fourth, and Maikel Garcia, his fifth.
The four games in Houston saw the A’s outscored 22-4 while hitting .173 (22-for-127), including .167 (4-for-24) with runners in scoring position with 25 runners left on base. They managed to get out of town despite 100 miles per hour winds that caused extensive damage in the city, but that was about the only positive thing about the experience.
The A’s are 1-7 on a three-city, 10-game road trip that started by winning one of three in Seattle.
“In the Seattle series I thought we swung the bats well,” Kotsay said. “Then we get (to Houston) and we kind of get dominated. So we’ve got to go back to the drawing board and figure out the offense, how to get this thing going again.
Massey reached Austin Adams for a two-run home run in the sixth inning. It brought home Salvador Perez, who walked to lead off the inning.
It was just the second time in 20 outings Adams had allowed an earned run.
The ninth different starting pitcher for the Athletics in the last 13 games, Mitch Spence (3-2) acquitted himself well, giving up just one run in 4 2/3 innings with one walk and four strikeouts.
With Spence as a rookie middle reliever, Kotsay told reporters before game “we’re going to push him as far as we can.”
Spence threw 77 pitches, 51 for strikes, and had it not taken 10 pitches to get Bobby Witt out with one out in the fifth, he likely would have been left in to complete the inning. After Witt finally flied to left, Kotsay brought in T.J. McFarland to get the last out of the inning.
“I was excited to get the start,” Spence said. “It’s something I always wanted to do and I tried to stick with what I know.”
Spence appeared to get out of the first inning unscathed when Brett Harris knocked down a ball hit by Salvador Perez with Witt at third and threw in time to first base for the third out.
The Royals challenged the call, however, and Perez was correctly ruled safe, with Witt scoring. Kansas City didn’t score again, but it drove Spence’s pitch count from 19 to 26 by the time he got out of the inning. Witt hit a one-out double over the head of Abraham Toro at second and advanced to third on a Spence wild pitch.
The series continues Saturday with A’s right-hander Ross Stripling (1-7) opposing the Royals’ Seth Lugo and lefty J.P. Sears (3-2) facing Brady Singer (3-2).
NOTABLE
— Hogan Harris, who is due a couple days rest anyway after pitching 3 1/3 innings in Houston Thursday night, was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas to make room for Brandon Bielak, who was acquired from Houston for cash considerations. The Astros designated Bielak for assignment on May 11 and Kotsay said he expected the right-hander to begin in a bulk innings relief role.
Bielak entered the game in the sixth inning in place of Adams for the A’s. He gave up a broken bat single to Hunter Renfroe and a three-run home run by Garcia to left. Bielak pitched the final 2 2/3 innings, giving up five hits and two earned runs.
— Toro, who made his first start in left field, had two of the A’s four hits and has 24 hits in May.
— A’s utilityman Tyler Nevin was 0-for-2 with a walk and is 1-for-35 in his last 12 games dating back to May 3.
— Joe Boyle, the A’s No. 5 starter who is on the injured list with a lower back strain, will throw a bullpen session Sunday.
