It was just one of those nights.

A day removed from one of their best offensive nights of the season, the A’s couldn’t string together key plate appearances in a 5-3 loss to the Rangers on Wednesday at Globe Life Field, dropping the fourth game of their last five and falling two games behind the Astros for the AL West division lead.

Despite the tough stretch, "there’s no panic in that locker room right now,” said outfielder Skye Bolt. 

Here are three observations from Oakland’s loss:

Jumping on Petit
When Yusmeiro Petit entered in the bottom of the seventh inning to protect a 3-2 lead, the Rangers were ready to swing. Three pitches, three swings, two runs. In a blink of an eye, Texas had turned Oakland’s one-run lead into a one-run deficit, as shocking as it was fast. 

Texas’ hitters wasted absolutely no time when Petit entered the game in relief of James Kaprielian who had turned in a serviceable six-inning, two-run outing.

The first pitch Petit threw was hit over the fence by Nate Lowe for a game-tying home run. His next pitch nearly went out itself, Eli White settling for a booming double to left-center.

The third pitch Petit threw was blooped into shallow left field by Brock Holt. White read the ball perfectly and easily scored from second base, putting Texas back on top.

“They were aggressive,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He throws a first pitch changeup [to Lowe]. That’s a pretty good pop-up pitch for him, he just didn’t get it in the spot he wanted to. Maybe not his best location of the year. Doesn’t happen often when he’s on the mound.”

While it was Petit's league-leading 37th appearance of the season, Melvin said he was not concerned about possible overuse given that the veteran had four days off between appearances.

Second time blues
Kaprielian has been a revelation for the A’s, especially with multiple arms currently down either due to injury or underperformance. But for the rookie, one glaring issue remains: the second time through the order.

His first time through the Rangers' lineup, Kaprielian was just about perfect. He allowed just a weakly hit single by Joey Gallo and nothing more.

The second time around was a different story, as Kaprielian allowed a run on three hits and two walks. With two outs in the fifth inning, Kaprielian issued a free pass to Nick Solak, which was followed by an RBI double from Jonah Heim, giving Texas its first lead of the game.

Slugger Adolis García, who homered twice on Wednesday, did his damage against Kaprielian in their third battle, launching a solo shot to straightaway center field.

Despite the hiccups, Kaprielian ended up delivering another solid outing. Across six innings, he allowed two runs and two walks and struck out four, good enough for his third quality start of the season.

“I thought I did all right,” Kaprielian said of his outing as a whole. “I made a couple mistakes and paid for it. Gotta be better, just flat out.”

Bolt’s big night
With Ramón Laureano making a rare start in right field and Mark Canha getting the night off, an opportunity arose for Bolt to get a second consecutive start in center field.

Bolt made the most of the opportunity, recording the first multi-hit game of his career, scoring a run and adding an RBI.

“It’s obviously a great compliment to be able to play in the center of the diamond in any position,” Bolt said. “I think it’s a combination of a little bit of trust that I’ve built with Bob and the rest of the staff as far as how I can play center field. I think they know I can go get it and … minimize mistakes and just keep the ball in front [of me].”

Bolt was right in the middle of Oakland’s three-run seventh inning which, at the time, gave them the lead. Bolt knocked in Elvis Andrus to knot the game up at 2, then scored the go-ahead run on a single by Matt Chapman, perfectly reading a low liner in center field to easily score from second.

“He’s probably not going to be a starter for us with what we have, but it looks like he’s settling in and is a lot more comfortable than maybe his first few at-bats,” Melvin said of Bolt's progression at the plate.