Athletics fall to Blue Jays 7-0

Tough day all around

Oakland dropped the second game of the series against Toronto, falling to the Blue Jays 7-0 on a tough day at the Coliseum.

Right-hander Luis Medina got the ball for today’s start, just his second since his return from his season-opening IL stint. It wasn't a terrible start from Medina, even though his final line from today’s start looks horrible. Toronto got to him for an early run in the first inning thanks to three walks but Medina did well to limit those early struggles to just one run. Over his next three innings he kept Toronto off the board while allowing just a few baserunners.

Sadly for the Athletics Toronto would break through later against Medina, tagging him hard in the fifth and ultimately chasing him from the game. That’s when the wheels really fell off for the second-year starter as he was charged with six runs on the day. It shouldn’t be completely surprising considering he’s still in just his second start of the season but expectations were high after his season debut earlier in the week.

Meanwhile the offense was clueless against right-hander Kevin Gausman. Facing last year’s third-place finished for the AL Cy Young award, the Athletics managed just six baserunners all day as Gausman went the distance. There’s not much to brag about from today’s showing as no one got more than a single against Gausman as he stifled the A’s for nine full frames. You’re not going to win any games if you can’t even score one run.

And so the Athletics fall to 26-40 on the season after that lackluster performance. Medina was alright but definitely showed signs of rust in his second start. And the offense just couldn’t get anything going against Gausman, who has been mortal this year but decided to bring his vintage A-game today against the good guys. Just our luck.

The club still has a chance to win the series with tomorrow’s game. They’ll be sending out Rule 5 pick Mitch Spence for the series finale while Toronto has yet to announce their starting pitcher. Let’s see if Spence can continue to grow as a starting pitcher with this opportunity at regular starts.