Entering the 2022 season, the A’s had only a handful of veteran players with a track record of major league success.
One of those players, reliever Lou Trivino, has taken a significant step backward.
For the second time in three days, Trivino gave up the go-ahead run in a crushing loss as the A’s losing skid reached nine games with an 8-4 defeat to the Cleveland Guardians.
After allowing a go-ahead homer to light-hitting Braves outfielder Guillermo Heredia on Tuesday, Trivino entered a tie game in the eighth inning on Thursday in Cleveland and gave up five straight hits while costing Oakland another opportunity to end an embarrassing streak.
Guardians shortstop Andres Gimenez gave Cleveland the lead with the third hit of the inning as his bloop single fell between shortstop Elvis Andrus and left fielder Tony Kemp.
The damage didn’t stop there, as third baseman Ernie Clement bunted in a run that led to a Trivino throwing error before pinch-hitter Richie Palacios doubled in a pair to put the game out of reach for a light-hitting Oakland lineup.
After catcher Sean Murphy was hit by a pitch in the second inning, the A’s took an early 2-0 lead for the third consecutive game as designated hitter Christian Bethancourt launched his second homer of the season.
The lead failed to hold as starter James Kaprielian gave up back-to-back homers to Guardians star José Ramírez and slugger Josh Naylor in the bottom of the fourth.
With Oakland threatening again in the sixth, manager Mark Kotsay sent pinch-hitter Seth Brown to the plate for Matt Davidson and the left-handed hitting Brown greeted reliever Bryan Shaw by driving a two-out, two-run double to push the A’s back in front 4-2.
Four runs matched the A’s highest output since their losing streak began on May 30 against the Rangers, but Oakland’s lead didn’t hold for long. Reliever A.J. Puk gave a run back in the sixth on a RBI single from Oscar Gonzalez and Steven Kwan tied the game with a two-out, RBI single in the seventh against Zach Jackson.
Bethancourt nearly put the A’s back in front with a long drive out to right field in the eighth, but his flyball clanked off the outfield wall and stayed in the park, holding the DH to a double. Bethancourt got as far as third base on a wild pitch from reliever Enyel De Los Santos, but was stranded there on an inning-ending groundout from Andrus.
From there, Trivino entered and disaster ensued.
In his first four years with the A’s, Trivino posted a 3.70 ERA in 221 games as he was one of the team’s most reliable bullpen arms. Following Thursday’s blow-up, Trivino’s 2022 ERA now sits at 9.20 in 21 games.
Their current nine-game streak matches the A’s longest of the season. Since Oakland started 10-10, the A’s have gone 10-29.
