Despite a strong effort from Mitch Spence, the Oakland Athletics ended up just one run away from sweeping the Kansas City Royals.
Bringing a 3.69 ERA/3.31 FIP as a starter into today’s outing, the A’s latest Rule 5 success story threw 6 innings of two-run ball while striking out 7 Royals along the way. His only real blemishes were a pair of solo homers allowed to his new nemesis, DH Freddy Fermin. Oakland’s lineup, unfortunately, was unable to back Spence up with any offense, letting the Royals carry a 2-0 lead into the 7th inning.
But finally, the A’s battled back with 2 outs in the bottom half of the inning, sparked by a couple of Oakland youngsters.