A’s return home, fall to Twins 6-3

Bob Melvin didn’t win his 1,000th game, again. Sonny Gray didn’t get traded, at least as of this writing. And Santiago Casilla didn’t get another chance at a save, though he’s apparently still the closer.

The A’s returned to the Coliseum on Friday night and played sloppy enough baseball to fall 6-3 to the Twins, so Ryan Lavarnway’s first big-league hit since 2015 wasn’t much of a consolation.

Lavarnway, a journeyman catcher who was called up Thursday from Triple-A Nashville to replace the injured Josh Phegley, got the start against lefty Jaime Garcia and doubled home Oakland’s first two runs in the fourth inning.

“I think I’ve been called up and sent down 14 times at this point,” said Lavarnway, who’s with his fifth organization and had played parts of five big-league seasons before the A’s signed him in November.

“You never know every time if you’re ever going to get back up, so I’m honored to have the opportunity, and I’m going to do everything I can to take advantage of it and to contribute to help this team.”

It was a nice story for Lavarnway, who was promoted in early July but returned to the minors when he was designated for assignment after two games. His game was overshadowed by a night of misplays and not-so-good situational hitting.

A’s starter Daniel Gossett was pulled in the fourth inning after yielding five runs (four earned) on nine hits and three walks. He threw two wild pitches in his final inning, one that let in a run.

“Frustrated. Embarrassed,” said Gossett, his ERA soared to 5.74. “You’ve got to take your lumps and move on. We could always learn from this, so that’ll be the focus. Take your beating and move on. ... Gotta be better than that.”

Since Melvin won his 999th career game as manager Sunday — No. 506 with Oakland — the A’s have lost five in a row, including four in Toronto. If the skid continues Saturday, it would fall on Gray to end it in Sunday’s series finale. If he remains with the team.

The trade deadline is Monday.

In the opener of a five-game homestand that includes two games against the Giants, the A’s looked good at times.

Third baseman Matt Chapman made a powerful, prompt and precise throw to second after diving to his right to rob Miguel Sano, and Adam Rosales completed the unlikely double play.

“There aren’t too many guys who make that play and get one out, let alone two,” Melvin said. “He’s special defensively. He’s going to save you a lot of runs.”

Rosales took a feed from center fielder Rajai Davis and gunned down Eddie Rosario trying to score from second on Zack Granite’s single.

Khris Davis ran a long way to make a catch near the left-field foul line, and Matt Joyce made a diving catch in right.

And other times, they looked so bad.

Where do we start? Gossett’s outing? The errors by Rosales and Lavarnway? The infield shifts that kept backfiring? The second-inning, bases-loaded opportunity that was wasted when Lavarnway struck out and Joyce hit into a double play?

How about the fourth-inning sequence in which shortstop Marcus Semien threw high to first base (Sano got a single) and Ryon Healy’s throw home was fumbled by Lavarnway, permitting Brian Dozier to score?

With Gossett gone, Melvin called on three relievers, including Frankie Montas, who struck out four but walked four and gave up a run in 21/3 innings. Simon Castro and Daniel Coulombe combined for three scoreless innings.

After losing late-game leads in ugly losses to the Blue Jays on Wednesday and Thursday, Melvin left open his closer options. On Friday, however, he said Casilla likely would be chosen for a save opportunity.

It never came. The A’s never led. “I have not taken Casilla out of that mix,” Melvin said before the game of the man who picked up his sixth blown save Wednesday, a day before Blake Treinen blew a save, too.