Montas makes the most of a tough night

OAKLAND -- Frankie Montas is positioned to be an elite trade chip for a rebuilding A’s squad ahead of the Aug. 2 Trade Deadline on the strength of his brilliance on the mound for a majority of the season.

Even in a 5-1 defeat against the Royals on Friday night at the Coliseum, Montas showed some of the qualities that have him in such high demand as he battled through early command issues.

Pitching himself into a first-inning jam, Montas allowed Kansas City to jump out to an early one-run lead just four batters into the game on a pair of singles and an RBI double by Salvador Perez. Montas later walked Hunter Dozier to load the bases. In danger of allowing a big inning, the right-hander ultimately limited the damage to one run, coaxing a popout from Kyle Isbel to end the frame.

“The first inning was a result of the fastball leaking back over the middle early in the game,” said manager Mark Kotsay. “To get out of that jam only giving up one run was great.”

Over the next three innings, Montas’ struggles with location bit him a couple of times, including a 2-0 fastball down in the zone to Perez that was crushed for a solo homer in the third. Then, once Montas did seem to settle in, his defense began to fail him.

Following a leadoff single allowed to Bobby Witt Jr. in the fifth, Montas induced a grounder from Perez for what would likely have been a double play. Instead, the ball glanced off the glove of Matt Davidson at third base and sailed into left field, which was followed by a sacrifice fly from MJ Melendez. Later in the fifth, miscommunication by Davidson and shortstop Elvis Andrus led to a short popup by Michael A. Taylor -- that would have ended the inning -- dropping for what was ruled an RBI single.

“That inning got away from us,” Kotsay said. “Ground ball hit to Davidson would have been a double play with two outs and nobody on. Not quite sure what happened on that popup. Davidson looked to be camped and going to catch it. Tough night for him at third base, and that led to Frankie’s short outing.

“I talk a lot about playing clean defense, and we just didn’t do that tonight."

Oakland’s defensive shakiness was matched by its lackluster performance on offense. The group struck out a total of 16 times in 32 at-bats, 10 of those coming against Kansas City starter Daniel Lynch, who held the A’s to just one run on four hits through five innings. Things didn’t get much better once Lynch departed, with the A’s mustering just one hit against the Royals bullpen over the game’s final four innings.

This rough combination of offense and defense has been far too common for an A’s club that entered the night on pace for 107 losses, which would be the most in a season since 1979, when they went 54-108. Their offense ranks last in the Majors in batting average (.210) and on-base percentage (.274), while carrying the second-lowest slugging percentage (.330) and OPS (.604).

Defensively, Oakland’s 46 errors are the most in the American League. It’s an area of the team that was expected to take a hit in 2022 after losing a pair of Gold Glove infielders in Matt Chapman and Matt Olson. What hasn’t helped is a lack of continuity around the infield, with the A’s shuffling players at both infield corners in search of better production.

“Obviously, the errors are something of concern,” Kotsay said. “There’s a lot of turnover and a lot of change that’s happened with our infield. We’ve got guys moving around the infield. It’s not the group we had last year. But we still believe in this group and we believe we’re going to be able to get outs and make defensive plays.”

Limiting Kansas City to three earned runs despite allowing a season-high 10 hits with four strikeouts and three walks across five innings, Montas maintains a 3.53 ERA while ranking among the American League leaders in multiple pitching categories. He continues to pitch through swirling trade rumors that only seem to intensify with each outing. By now, though, he’s learned to block out the chatter.

“I have to move on to the next one,” Montas said. “This one is already over. I’ve got another opportunity in five more days. I’ll get the ball again and I can go out there and compete. That’s the only thing I know how to do, just go out and give it my all.”