A's tied for top wild-card spot after loss

OAKLAND - Gordon Beckham homered and the Los Angeles Angels dropped the Oakland Athletics into a tie for the top AL wild card with a 2-0 win Tuesday night.

A’s starter Sonny Gray whiffed Mike Trout three times among his career-best 12 strikeouts, one month to the day after Jon Lester fanned the Angels slugger three times at the Coliseum. But Gray had nothing to show for it as Oakland was shut out for the seventh time since Aug. 1.

Oakland and Kansas City are tied for the two wild-card spots at 86-71, three games ahead of Seattle with five to play. The Royals beat Cleveland 7-1 earlier Tuesday night and won the season series with the Athletics 5-2, giving Kansas City the tiebreaker.

That means if the Royals and A’s win the wild cards and finish with identical records, Kansas City would host their one-game playoff next Tuesday.

Wade LeBlanc (1-1) ran his scoreless stretch to 152/3 innings over his last six outings, allowing five hits in 51/3 innings for the AL West champions.

Gray (13-10) is 0-3 in his last six starts. The right-hander has one victory in 11 starts since a 5-0 July that earned him AL pitcher of the month honors.

The A’s had a chance to tie the game in the fifth after Josh Reddick’s one-out double. Eric Sogard grounded out two batters later on an off-balance throw by second baseman Howie Kendrick that just beat Sogard, who slid headfirst.

Los Angeles went ahead in the second on an unearned run when Erick Aybar scored from third during a rundown. Efren Navarro was caught stealing at second on a 2-6-3-4 double play after Hank Conger struck out swinging.

Beckham hit his ninth homer leading off the sixth.

The A’s loaded the bases in the eighth against Joe Smith, who retired Stephen Vogt on a shallow fly to right to escape unscathed. Huston Street finished for his 16th save with the Angels and 40th overall.