Playing their fourth game in three different cities in three days, the A’s at times appeared to be feeling the mileage Tuesday evening.
One swing by catcher Elias Diaz provided all the offense the Rockies needed to send the A’s to a 3-1 loss in Colorado. A day after totaling 14 runs in a doubleheader at Seattle, the A’s squandered early scoring chances against Colorado right-hander Antonio Senzatela, who threw a complete game on 109 pitches.
“He got better as he went along,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said of Senzatela. “We had him on the ropes early. We had a couple situations where we could have done a little bit more damage and we didn’t, and then kind of let him off the hook. Give him credit.”
The A’s played their 11th game in eight days Tuesday, a stretch in which they’re 6-5. They’ve lost several key players to injury in that time and played Monday’s doubleheader amid unhealthy air quality conditions in Seattle because of wildfire smoke. With the Astros winning Tuesday, the A’s magic number to clinch the AL West remained at six.
“This season is a very unorthodox one that no one can predict, and everyone’s body is feeling a different way,” A’s second baseman Tony Kemp said. “We’re just battling. We’re grinding. The guys’ spirits are still up. We’re still in first place, and you can’t forget that.”
Kemp drove in the A’s lone run Tuesday with a second-inning sacrifice fly. He doubled leading off the fifth inning but was stranded, a theme for the A’s in the game. They were 0-for-9 with men in scoring position against Senzatela, who allowed six hits.
“He threw his off-speed really well. He threw it at the bottom of the zone, not much stuff was zoned up,” Kemp said. “We got him early on some heaters, and I think he made the adjustment going to some off-speed pitches later. So, yeah, he did a good job. Most of us were off-balance.”
The A’s lost a Sean Manaea start for the first time since Aug. 10 as Colorado capitalized on Oakland’s first error in nine games. Josh Fuentes opened the fifth with a chopper to the right of shortstop Marcus Semien, whose wide throw eluded Matt Olson as Fuentes ran to third. The next batter, Diaz, lined a 1-2 pitch from Manaea for a two-run homer. Colorado added a run in the sixth on singles by Nolan Arenado and Kevin Pillar and a Fuentes sacrifice fly that chased Manaea.
Manaea said the two-strike pitch to Diaz “wasn’t really that good of a pitch.He just put a really good swing on it. Overall, I thought I went out there and competed. ... Those guys put good swings on balls they should.”
“Seven strikeouts, looked good again,” Melvin said. “But when you only score one run, it’s not going to be enough.”
Tuesday was Manaea’s fourth straight outing working with catcher Jonah Heim, who was called up in late August. The A’s have not deemed it a “personal catcher” situation — and Sean Murphy was going to catch only once in Denver with a night game followed by a day game — but Melvin acknowledged Manaea and Heim have worked well together.
“Based on the fact that (Manaea is) on a little bit of a roll with Jonah — it’s not like he couldn’t with Murph, but may as well play that hand while we have the ability,” Melvin said before the game.
Melvin said the A’s will “enjoy an off-day” coming up Thursday after “a pretty grueling stretch.” No A’s players were unavailable Tuesday because of playing in Monday’s conditions, though Kemp said “there were definitely some guys that were feeling some stuff in their bodies today.”
“When you travel that much going in and out of different time zones, it’s going to wear on you no matter how prepared you are,” Manaea said. “So, I mean, it’s a grind, but we’re up for it.”
Matt Kawahara covers the A’s for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: mkawahara@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @matthewkawahara
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A’s lose 3-1 to Rockies, bats quieted in Colorado - San Francisco Chronicle
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