KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ It was a victory for the A's, but they took another loss in the starting rotation.
Daniel Gossett's early departure with what was later revealed as right elbow tightness put a damper on a sunny day at Kauffman Stadium that saw the A's put together a clutch eighth-inning rally in Sunday's 5-1 victory to win the three-game series against the Royals.
Gossett was looking as good as he has all season and was only getting better as the start went along, turning in a eight-pitch fourth and seven-pitch fifth. But when it was time for bottom of the sixth to begin and Gossett at just 63 pitches, Lou Trivino emerged from the bullpen and took over on the mound.
Gossett allowed one run on two hits and two walks with one strikeout over five innings, with his only real mistake on the day a 1-0 slider to Jon Jay that was crushed to center field for a solo home run in the third as the Royals (21-38) tied the game.
After Jed Lowrie drove Dustin Fowler home with a single off Jakob Junis to put the A's (31-29) back ahead in the eighth, Matt Olson delivered the critical blow two batters later by unloading on a 3-0 fastball from Burch Smith for a three-run home run. It was Olson's 12th home run of the season, and fourth home run in as many games.
The back-end bullpen trio of Lou Trivino, Yusmeiro Petit, and Blake Treinen continued to thrive, combining four scoreless innings of one-hit ball.
Lou Trivino gave the A's two innings following Gossett and got the win to improve to 3-0 with his ERA now at 0.82.
Fresh off earning American League Reliever of the Month for May, Treinen struck out two in a perfect ninth inning.
Already having lost starters Brett Anderson and Andrew Triggs to the disabled list, and Kendall Graveman having also been placed on the disabled list with a forearm strain at Triple-A Nashville on Saturday, a stint on the DL for Gossett would be disastrous for the A's thin starting pitching depth.
Paul Blackburn is currently on a rehab assignment, but he's barely set to be moved up to 75 pitches Tuesday with Triple-A Nashville. The only likely option to replace Gossett in the rotation at this point would be Chris Bassitt, who is 2-2 with a 5.77 ERA in nine games, six starts, at Nashville this season.
