A's lose to Rays 6-3: Winning streak halted at seven

The Oakland A's faced the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday knowing their long-term fate: no more baseball in the East Bay.

That might or might have not affected the on-field production, but the Athletics (19-51) ended up losing 6-3 to the Rays (49-22) in what marked the end of their seven-game winning streak.

After beating the best team in the MLB for the first two head-to-head matchups between A's and Rays earlier this week, Oakland had to ate a couple of losses on Wednesday evening--the first one in Nevada's court and the second one on the grass of the Coliseum.

Luis Medina (1-6) got the call as the starter for the A's and he did a reasonably good job finishing his outing into the fifth frame allowing eight hits and earning four runs while striking out five batters and walking just one.

On the other side of the scoreboard, Tyler Glasnow (2-0) got his fourth start of the year having missed time at the start of the season, and won his second game pitching 5.1 innings and allowing six hits, three runs, and four walks while striking out six A's on his way to earning the W.

Things went down early with the A's trailing 0-1 by the bottom of the second only for the Oakland superheroes to score three runs in that frame to take the lead, one they wouldn't surrender until midway through the ballgame.

Christian Bethancourt sacrificed to score Randy Arozarena but that's not something the A's would ever do, would they? Ask JJ Bleday, and you'll get a solid answer.

Instead of just hitting a mere flyout, Bleday opted for the most straightforward way of scoring runners sitting on the bases: banging a homer. Jonah Bride and Aledmys Dias crossed the home plate followed by the very own Bleday and the A's would lead until the top of the fifth.

Then and there the Rays had their own particular big inning, scoring three runs thanks to doubles by Manuel Margot and Yandy Diaz followed by a single by Josh Lowe. The A's never answered.

Shea Langeliers leads the MLB in caught-stealing throws from the plate with 20 after throwing Randy Arozarena out in the top of the fourth. Kudos to the best catcher in the league! It is what it is.

Speaking of record-breaking players, Esteury Ruiz got a cleat to his chest but it's not that he cares. The young sprinter stole two more bags on Wednesday making it 32 on the season, the most across the MLB landscape. Yay!

Oakland had a chance to make things insteresting in the bottom of the sixth inning but they couldn't quite capitalize. A single and two walks by Seth Brown, Brent Rooker, and Jonah Bride loaded the bases for Aledmys Diaz but all he could do was grounding into a double play ending the dreams of the A's to get thier eighth consecutive victory.

The Rays added another run in the ninth, hitting all pitchers deployed by the A's at least once through Wednesday's game. Jason Adam got the save for Tampa Bay's striking out one of the three batters he faced and allowing one hit.

The A's will host the Rays for a fourth and final time on Thursday to cap a series they can't lose anymore after winning the first two meetings between both clubs on Monday and Tuesday while trying to keep their heads above the MLB-worst Kansas City Royals' winning percentage.