The A's offense cooled off quickly.
The Houston Astros shut out Oakland 6-0 Saturday, and the A's have scored two total runs in Houston so far this series.
The A's have scored 32 runs in 10 games since returning from their first two games in Japan, but fourteen of those runs came in two games against the Boston Red Sox, and the A's are batting just .224 since the home opener on March 28. However, A's manager Bob Melvin is confident his team can bust out of this slump.
"We will. We'll get [production]." Melvin told reporters in Houston on Saturday. "We'll start to get 'em [going]. You look up and down the lineup, we have a couple of guys who are swinging the bat okay, and then quite a few [who] aren't at this point. And then you come up against a pretty good staff, especially in this ballpark, and it accentuates things a little bit. But we'll get it going."
One of those aforementioned batters who isn't swinging well is catcher Nick Hundley. Hundley, who slashed .241/.298/.408 and hit 10 homers last season as the Giants' backup backstop, is just 3-for-23 at the plate this season. He went 0-for-7 in the first two games of the series, and struck out three times.
"I can speak for myself, I don't speak for the team: I haven't done a good enough job," Hundley said Saturday. "I need to be better offensively, and I can do that. Whether that happens tomorrow, the next day, or whenever that is, I know it'll come. But, I can't speak for all of us, especially the way I'm swinging the bat."
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The A's offense was among MLB's best in 2018, scoring more runs (813) than all but three teams, and hitting more homers (227) than all but two. They're undoubtedly feeling the effects of slugger Matt Olson's absence, but Oakland is capable of rebounding quickly at the plate.
Melvin and Hundley would welcome it, particularly with nine games against AL West opponents this month and Olson out of the lineup indefinitely.
