Ball doesn't bounce A's way against Red Sox

OAKLAND -- Though games like this haven’t happened often to Jurickson Profar, he knew how to conduct himself afterward.

Profar’s sixth-inning throwing error abetted a Boston rally that tied the score and put the Red Sox in position to win, 6-3, ending the A’s four-game winning streak on Wednesday night at the Coliseum.

Profar has a reputation as a sure-handed middle infielder, which was why it was stunning to see the A’s second baseman field Rafael Devers’ sixth-inning grounder and air-mail his intended relay to shortstop Marcus Semien into short left field. At the very least, a clean relay would have erased Mookie Betts, the lead runner. It might even have generated an inning-ending double play, preserving Oakland’s two-run lead.

Instead, the inning unraveled. Betts reached third, and A’s starter Marco Estrada walked J.D. Martinez to load the bases. In came left-hander Ryan Buchter, who yielded Mitch Moreland's two-run double into the right-field corner.

That was all the scoring until Boston clinched matters with a three-run ninth. Two of the runs scored on Betts’ grounder that struck third base and caromed into left field for a two-out double. The A’s watched in frustration as third baseman Matt Chapman, who turned in another impressive defensive effort, stood helplessly behind the bag, waiting to make a play that ill luck denied him.

In Profar’s mind, he already had ruined the A’s evening. He offered no excuses.

“I didn’t have a good grip on the ball,” he said. “I had more time to grab the ball good and make a good throw, and we turn the double play and have a good chance to win the game.”

Estrada absolved Profar from blame, pointing out that he shouldn’t have walked Martinez.

“I didn’t pick my guy up,” Estrada said. “I was upset about that. Immediately when stuff like that happens, I put in my head, ‘Hey, let’s pick him up, make better pitches and get the guy out,’ and I didn’t do that.”

Meanwhile, Profar has reason to be concerned about more than just his defense. Once ballyhooed as baseball’s No. 1 prospect for his rich variety of skills, Profar owns a .139 batting average. By contrast, the switch-hitter batted .254 in 146 games with Texas last year.

“It’s baseball. I know I’ve got it,” he said. “I’m just going to keep working and I know I’m going to get back on track.”

Profar probably wouldn’t mind following the example set by Ramón Laureano, who entered the game batting .148 before bashing a two-run, fourth-inning homer off Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi. Of the 34 runs the A’s have scored this season, 21 have resulted from homers. The A’s have homered at least once in all seven games of their homestand, which ends with Thursday’s matinee against the Red Sox.

That homer helped the A’s cruise to a 3-0 lead through four innings. Then Boston’s Blake Swihart homered in the fifth, interrupting the Oakland staff’s 25-inning scoreless streak, the A’s longest such streak since May 31-June 2, 2006.