Sears remains a stabilizing force for A's

OAKLAND -- Every fifth day, JP Sears has been steadily proving himself to be a stabilizing force in an A's rotation that has been defined by inconsistency to this point in the 2023 campaign.

It's not just about the results, though Sears has delivered on a regular basis after putting a rocky April behind him. It's more about his presence on the staff -- in terms of both durability and dependability -- as the 27-year-old lefty is the only member of the Opening Day rotation who has not missed an outing or been demoted, whether to the bullpen or to Triple-A Las Vegas.

Sears put together his team-leading seventh quality start in his first second-half appearance, but it wasn't enough to lift the A's as they were swept by the Twins with a 5-4 loss on Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum.

Oakland has now dropped at least seven straight games four times this season. No other club in the Majors has more than two losing streaks of at least seven games.

The A's fell to 5-14 in Sears' starts, and while that doesn't sound particularly impressive at face value, it accounts for one-fifth of Oakland's wins this season. In 10 of his past 12 starts, including Sunday, Sears has allowed three earned runs or fewer.

"JP did an unbelievable job," manager Mark Kotsay said. "He's continuing to get better. … He went out today and really gave us a great performance against a really good hitting team, a team that's swinging the bats really well over these last three days."

The A's southpaw thrived on missing bats on Sunday, generating whiffs on 19 of 47 swings on his pitches -- his second-highest total in a big league game. Sears punched out seven Twins, becoming only the second pitcher in the last 110 years with 100 or more strikeouts and fewer than two wins through his first 19 appearances of a season, joining Tony Saunders in 1998.

Sears was stingy when it came to hits, too, only allowing four, but two of them were solo shots hit by Christian Vázquez and Alex Kirilloff in the fifth inning.

Sears has not been immune to the long ball, allowing 21 this season, tied for the third most in the Majors.

"You'd rather some guys collect some hits together rather than, you know, the long ball," he said. "It's part of the game. [I'm] just in the zone a good bit, so it happens at times."

Sears escaped the fifth with some flair, making a grab on a sharp comebacker off the bat of Carlos Correa and firing to first base, walking determinedly off the mound and back toward the home dugout the instant the ball hit Tyler Soderstrom's glove.

"I think it was a little bit of frustration-slash-fired up," Sears said. "After those two home runs, really just the second one, just was a little upset about the pitch selection."

The wheels came off when Lucas Erceg entered in relief of Sears in the seventh inning. Erceg was arguably one of Oakland's best relievers in the first half, having allowed only one of 16 inherited runners to score, but he had allowed at least three runs in three of his last five appearances entering Sunday.

With one on and one out in the seventh, Erceg faced four Twins batters but could not record an out, loading the bases before surrendering a three-run double to Kirilloff.

"The game wasn't lost because of Lucas," Kotsay said. "We had opportunities to score today and add on to that lead that we had, and we weren't able to do it."

Unlike the prior two games, when the Twins jumped out to early leads, it was the A's who struck first Sunday. Jordan Diaz took Joe Ryan deep in the second inning for his first career home run at the Coliseum and added on with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, followed by an Aledmys Díaz RBI double that gave Oakland a three-run cushion.

But at the end of the day, the A's went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded six.

Up-and-coming talent has been at the forefront this weekend in Oakland, and 22-year-old Diaz is another young player the A's would like to see get going at the plate. His opportunities have become more limited now that No. 3 prospect Zack Gelof is expected to get a good chunk of the playing time at second base, but Diaz is determined to contribute however he can.

"It is difficult, because I'm not always in rhythm because I'm not always playing," Diaz said in Spanish through interpreter Sergio Almodovar. "But for me, I'm always ready. Whenever the coach makes a decision, I'm always going to be ready for my team."