OAKLAND, Calif. _ Like a ghost from the Oakland A's recent glorious past, Jon Lester came back to haunt the team Friday night in its 7-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs at the Coliseum.
After being greeted mostly warmly by the overwhelmingly blue-clad crowd of 25,182, Lester _ making his first appearance at the Coliseum since the 2014 trade that sent popular slugger Yoenis Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox _ proceeded to mow down the A's batters with ruthless efficiency for the next five innings. The left-hander yielded only an infield single to Khris Davis before the A's, trailing 7-0, finally broke through in the sixth.
Right fielder Brett Eibner, making his first appearance for the A's after being acquired from Kansas City for Billy Burns last week, led off the sixth with a home run to left. Shortstop Marcus Semien added an RBI single before the inning was over, cutting Chicago's lead to 7-2.
That was all the A's could muster, though, as they lost for the sixth time in seven games.
Lester finished with eight strikeouts, no walks, and six hits allowed in seven innings of work.
The A's acquired Lester in the heat of the 2014 pennant race, hoping that with a rotation featuring him, Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, and Jeff Samardzija, Oakland would finally be able to reach the World Series for the first time since 1990.
Oakland's 2014 season went south after that trade, however. Although Lester pitched well after joining the A's, going 6-4 with a 2.35 ERA, 71 strikeouts, and 16 walks in 76 2/3 innings of work, the A's faltered down the stretch, largely due to their inability to produce runs _ which was a problem even before they dealt Cespedes.
The A's barely secured the second wild-card spot, and their bullpen blew a four-run lead en route to losing the wild-card game _ which Lester started _ in Kansas City. Lester joined the Cubs as a free agent after the season, the third straight in which the A's had reached the playoffs.
The A's haven't been a playoff contender since. Many fans thus point to the Lester trade as the start of the A's woes.
Lester, meanwhile, was part of the Cubs' run to the National League Championship Series last season and has returned to the form that made him a consistent winner with the Red Sox. Lester is now 12-4 with a 3.09 ERA for the NL Central-leading Cubs.
Friday's game began disastrously for A's starter Dillon Overton (1-3). The left-hander surrendered two home runs in the first inning _ a leadoff shot by Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler and a three-run blast by designated hitter Jorge Soler.
With those homers, the A's pitching staff extended its streak of games with home runs allowed to 11.
Things snowballed from there. Overton allowed three more runs in the third inning as his ERA ballooned from an already dreadful 9.33 to 10.66.
A's relievers Andrew Triggs, Daniel Coulombe and Marc Rzepczynski combined to allow just three Cubs baserunners from the fourth inning on, but by then, the damage had already been done.
Called up from Triple-A Nashville to replace injured pitcher Jesse Hahn, Triggs had perhaps his best major league appearance to date. The right-hander only pitched two innings, but he breezed through the heart of the Cubs' order in one of them, striking out Kris Bryant (.282, 26 homers, 68 RBI) and Anthony Rizzo (.288/24/79) before getting cleanup hitter Ben Zobrist (.277/13/54) to fly out.
First baseman Danny Valencia was ejected in the sixth inning after arguing a called third strike.
Infielder Jed Lowrie's second stint on the disabled list this season may go on a bit longer than the 15 days he's slated for, A's manager Bob Melvin said.
Placed on the DL on Friday, Lowrie has been hampered by a sizable bunion on his left foot and is facing possible season-ending surgery.
"It's gotten to the point where it's worse and worse," Melvin said. "We've been taping it a variety of different ways to try and alleviate some of the discomfort, but that just hasn't happened.
"He's doing some research, getting some second opinions and looking at the potential for not having surgery, but surgery is definitely one of the options."
Hahn, meanwhile, is hopeful that his stay on the DL will be a short one. The right-hander was placed on the 15-day DL with shoulder fatigue.
"I don't feel pain or anything," Hahn said. "Hopefully when 15 days is up, I'll come back and be fine."
Melvin decided to take a cautious approach with Hahn after noticing a sizable drop in his velocity in his most recent start against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, which was cut short after the fourth inning.
"I've seen that several times this year," Melvin said. "With the injuries he's had in the past, I wasn't comfortable (sending him back out)."
Called up from Triple-A Nashville to replace Lowrie, Eibner hit .231 with three home runs and 10 RBI with Kansas City. He had a walkoff hit against the Chicago White Sox in his second game in the bigs back in May, capping a seven-run rally in the bottom of the ninth with an RBI single.
Eibner fared much better in Triple-A ball, batting a combined .289 with 12 home runs and 34 RBI at Omaha and Nashville.
"I don't know what my role is here, but whatever they want me to do, I'm going to do," Eibner said.
_Davis is one home run and one RBI from reaching career highs in both categories.
The slugger has 27 homers this season, including eight since the All-Star break and four in his last seven games, to go with 69 RBI. Davis hit 27 homers for Milwaukee last season and drove in 69 runs for the Brewers in 2014.
"He's a good a power hitter as anyone in the American League," Melvin said. "His power to the opposite field is extremely unique _ I can't think of anyone, other than maybe (Detroit's) Miguel Cabrera, who hits with as much power to the opposite field as he does.
"He overcame a slow start with some terrible numbers and is now in a place where the expectation is that he'll do some damage and drive in runs, and he has."
_The A's Sonny Gray will take the mound against 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta on Saturday in a matchup of struggling aces.
Gray is easily having the worst season of his career, going 5-10 with an unsightly 5.84 ERA after three seasons with an ERA of 3.08 or lower. In his last six starts he's 2-4 with a 7.79 ERA, having given up seven earned runs in three of those games.
The Cubs' Arrieta, meanwhile, started the season strong, winning nine of his first 11 starts and pitching a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds on April 21, but has struggled as of late. His 2.75 ERA is impressive, but nowhere near as impressive as the 1.56 he had on May 31 before going 3-5 with a 4.25 ERA in his past 10 starts.
Arrieta's recent struggles aside, Gray knows he'll have to be at his best to beat him.
"Going in, you know you're going to have to be pretty good," the A's right-hander said. "If you're not, you're going to be on the wrong side."
