HOUSTON _ April is over and the A's have failed their first overall test of the American League West.
The first month of the season saw Oakland play 26 games, 23 of them against the AL West teams the A's will have to beat to be competitive.
With Sunday's 7-2 loss to the Astros, the A's are 9-13 against the West and five games behind division-leading Houston. A year ago Oakland was heading into May with a 13-12 record and was 1 { games out of first _ and that team went on to lose 93 games.
Part of the problem has been injuries. With Sean Manaea going on the disabled list Sunday morning the A's have made used of the DL 10 times already. That's three more times than to this point last year, and in 2016 the A's set an Oakland record with 27 uses of the DL.
Part of the problem has been offense. Sunday was the ninth time Oakland has scored two or fewer runs in a loss. Oakland is third in homers hit with 31, but only 12th in runs scored with 91.
Part of the problem has been defense. Oakland is dead last in the AL in both errors _ the A's made their 22nd Sunday _ and fielding percentage and mid-month had a streak of errors in 11 consecutive games. The result has been 17 unearned runs, also the most in the league.
It's safe to say this isn't the productivity Billy Beane, David Forst and Bob Melvin had hoped to be seeing one-sixth of the way into the season.
There are, if you look for them, some bright spots. Oakland has gone this far without ace Sonny Gray, who comes back Tuesday from an extended stint on the disabled Tuesday in Minneapolis. And leadoff man Rajai Davis returns that night too after 10 days on the DL. Kendall Graveman came off the DL earlier in the week and has been impressive in all of his starts.
And then there's Jesse Hahn. He didn't make the starting rotation to start the season, but he's pitched at least six innings and he's had a quality start of at least six innings in each of his four starts. That includes Sunday, when he went six innings, allowed eight hits but no walks. Two of the four runs he allowed were unearned.
When Manaea returns, someone is going to be squeezed out of the current five-man crop of starters, and it's more likely to be Jharel Cotton than Hahn based on performance.
Houston left-hander Dallas Keuchel was his usual dominant self in running his record to 5-0. Keuchel allowed just three hits and two walks and hadn't allowed a run when he left the game. The man to relieve him, former A's right-hander Luke Gregerson, was dinged for an RBI single from Ryon Healy. That brought home Adam Rosales, whose one-out single in the eighth led to Keuchel's departure from the game.
Hahn allowed a run in the first inning on a two-out Carlos Correa double and another in the fourth on an Evan Gattis double. Former A's outfielder Josh Reddick reached base on catcher's interference for the third time in the series in the fifth inning _ this time with Josh Phegley behind the plate _ and two unearned runs would wind up scoring in the inning on Brian McCann's bases-loaded single.
