OAKLAND, Calif. _ Like all good things, the A's winning streak had to come to an end at some point.
Entering the day winners of six in a row, the A's were unable to complete a second consecutive sweep as the Indians poured it on in Sunday's 15-3 loss in front of 16,164 fans at the Coliseum for Root Beer Float Day.
Things can escalate quickly when you're up against a potent lineup like the Indians possess.
Jed Lowrie represented the tying run as he came up to the plate with two outs in the seventh inning after Mark Canha grounded into a force out to bring home a run and put the A's within two runs at 5-3. But after Canha was thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning, things got ugly.
Perhaps a bit rusty after not pitching in five days, Chris Hatcher came on to begin the eighth and was shelled for four runs and was pulled by A's manager Bob Melvin without having recorded an out. Josh Lucas took over for Hatcher and was also tagged for four runs before getting finally through the inning, making it an eight-run eighth for the Indians as batted around and transformed what was once a close game into a laugher in just a matter of minutes.
After holding the Indians were held to just three runs over the past two games, they exploded for 15 runs on 20 hits against the A's Sunday, smacking 11 doubles.
Frankie Montas did his best to keep the A's in the game for that potential late-inning comeback the A's have become notorious for doing the past couple of weeks, allowing three runs on nine hits and no walks, striking out six batters over 5 2/3 innings of work.
Back-to-back doubles by Khris Davis and Matt Olson to lead off the fourth tied the game and got the A's on the board for their first run of the day.
