The A’s climbed out of an early hole to come back and tie the game, but a rare mistake from one of their top relievers ended up the toughest blow.
Yusmeiro Petit, who has been one of the A’s more reliable relievers, surrendered a go-ahead solo home run to Jorge Soler in the eighth, which proved to be the difference-maker in Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Royals.
Trevor Cahill appeared ticketed for a short outing after allowing four runs through his first two innings of work, even causing manager Bob Melvin to get Danny Coulombe to start warming up in the bullpen after allowing two runs in the second.