Bullpen missteps costly to A’s

SEATTLE — The Oakland A’s have been racked with injuries and inconsistency early in the season, but the one area of their team that has shined has been their bullpen. On Tuesday night, the team called on six relievers who almost did the job one more time.

They just couldn’t get one more strike.

With two out in the bottom of the ninth and the A’s leading by a run, closer Ryan Madson hung a 1-2 changeup to Leonys Martin, the ball ended up in the right-field bleachers, and just like that, Oakland had suffered a stunning 6-5  defeat.

The clubhouse was understandably quiet, but the veteran pitchers who make up the back end of the bullpen accepted responsibility and the desire to move forward. The A’s manager, Bob Melvin, echoed those sentiments.

“We feel like when we get through six innings and we have [our best] three guys coming in the game, we’re going to win the game,” Melvin said. “We just had two guys give up two runs today, and it’s going to happen.”

Things started off well for the A’s and their bullpen, which, in fact, was given a tall task and set about it in proper fashion.

Starter Kendall Graveman battled through 4 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks and throwing 78 pitches, but Melvin called on left-hander Daniel Coulumbe first, and he delivered with 1 2/3 perfect innings. Those frames looked spectacular once the Oakland offense erupted for four runs in the top of the sixth inning to take what appeared to be …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com