The Athletics entered the eighth inning down 4-0 vs. the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday.
Within a blink of an eye, the score was 4-2 at the top of the ninth following a pair of single RBIs from Jed Lowrie and Stephen Piscotty.
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The momentum was with the A’s, but it was too little too late.
The A’s were held scoreless by Phillies starting pitcher Kyle Gibson for the first seven innings.
In his first outing of the season, The 6-foot-6 right-hand pitcher struck out 10 and allowed only two hits over seven shutout innings.
Overall, he had 16 swings and misses on Saturday.
Oakland Athletics
Meanwhile, a familiar face in Philly returned to the mound at Citizens Bank. This time wearing green and gold, Cole Irvin looked promising from the second to fifth innings, but allowed three homers against his former team.
Still, Irvin is remaining optimistic.
“In the [sixth] inning, got away from the plan a little bit and made a couple of mistake pitches,” Irvin told reporters after the game. “But otherwise I thought I threw the ball well.
“... At the end of the day, we want to win. We were in that ball game until I gave up those two runs in the sixth. We tried to fight back, but it is what it is.”
Oakland got on board in the eighth thanks to an RBI single from Piscotty.
At the top of the ninth, Tony Kemp was walked and eventually managed to get to third following a Philadelphia throwing error.
That’s when Lowrie singled to left field and brought Kemp in to make it a two-run game. With zero outs, things were looking up for Oakland.
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But a double play and strikeout sealed the deal in Philly.
The A’s are 0-2 and look to avoid a series sweep as they face the Phillies one more time on Sunday morning.