A's slide now at 6: 'Our guys are trying hard'

OAKLAND -- Coming off a close defeat on Thursday night, the A’s sensed they were close to breaking out of a team-wide funk that has spanned nearly two weeks. It was the kind of loss that felt like a step forward, given their fighting spirit to overcome a large early deficit before falling late.

Friday night, however, felt like a step backward for the A’s.

Running into a familiar old American League West foe in Gerrit Cole, the A’s were stifled on offense for most of the night. Meanwhile, Sean Manaea’s rough month of August continued as the left-hander was tagged for three homers over 4 1/3 innings in an 8-2 loss to the Yankees at the Oakland Coliseum.

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Having dropped 10 of its past 12 contests, Oakland has lost a season-high-tying six straight games. The first such streak came in April, when the A's began the season by losing their first six games. That tough stretch was followed by a 13-game winning streak shortly after.

“It’s another bad stretch for us against some good teams,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ve lost some really close games where we’re one pitch or one hit away. Tonight was not one of those games. But it’s one thing if we’re just lackluster and we’re just getting blown out. Our guys are trying hard.

“We’ll continue to grind through it, win a game and, hopefully, get on a roll. It’s just the way it is.”

It feels like these A’s may need a similar hot streak to the one from April if they’re going to have a real shot at rescuing their chances of reaching the postseason. Friday’s loss dropped them to 6 1/2 games back of the Astros for first place in the AL West, their largest deficit of the season.

The prospects of getting in as an AL Wild Card team are also slipping away, as Oakland is 3 1/2 games back of Boston for the second spot.

“We’ve been here before,” A’s left fielder Tony Kemp said. “Right now, the ball is not going how we want it to go. We've just got to keep battling. Every day presents a new opportunity. We just have to be ready for it.”

Of all the facets the A’s have struggled in over this frustrating stretch, there is one category that sticks out: situational hitting. Over the past 12 games, Oakland hitters are batting .163 (14-for-83) with runners in scoring position. On Friday, the A's went 1-for-9 in those situations -- Matt Olson’s RBI single in the seventh being the only hit -- and left nine runners on base.

The most disheartening missed opportunity for Oakland came in the seventh against New York’s bullpen, which relieved Cole after six scoreless innings. After the A's cut the Yanks' lead to 5-2, Jed Lowrie walked to load the bases and present a golden opportunity for Josh Harrison with only one out.

However, on the fourth pitch that Harrison saw from Yankees reliever Chad Green, Harrison sharply hit a grounder to second for an inning-ending double play.

“We were one hit away from breaking through, making it a completely different game,” Melvin said. “They made some big pitches when they had to. We’re just a little bit short right now across the board.”

One reason for the A’s offense needing to catch up was Manaea’s tough outing. He allowed five runs, leaving after giving up a three-run homer to Aaron Judge with one out in the fifth.

Perhaps no pitcher in baseball is looking more forward to the calendar turning to September than Manaea. In five August starts, he never went more than five innings. Over that stretch, he had a 9.90 ERA and a .344 batting average against. Manaea's ERA has gone from 3.01 to 3.97.

“I think it’s just been a lot of location stuff,” Manaea said. “I’m not really establishing stuff, especially the fastball to the glove side. I’m leaving stuff over the middle. It’s more me than anything else.”

The A's haven't found a way to spark a turnaround. Melvin called a team meeting following Tuesday’s loss to the Mariners, but the losing streak has continued.

The A’s have been capable of producing stunning turnarounds in the past, though. With 33 regular-season games to go, they’ll have to find that late-season magic again if they want to make a postseason run.

“We just have to keep battling,” Kemp said. “There’s a lot of heart on this team, and we’re not going to go down without a fight. Within this next month, just finish up strong, play the best baseball and let the chips fall where they may.”