A’s drop first game of doubleheader 6-5 in 10th inning

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - With two games to play Saturday afternoon coming fast on the heels of a drubbing Friday night, the A’s needed to perk up a bit early to ensure their day didn’t go haywire. And when Oakland put together five consecutive hits in the third inning and scored three runs, all appeared on track.

Then, however, the A’s loaded the bases with no outs the following inning and got nothing out of it, nearly always a bad portent. And so it was Saturday: After blowing a chance to add to their lead, the A’s transformed back into their error-prone pumpkin selves, with even starter Sonny Gray making a rare, and costly, mistake in a 6-5, 10-inning loss to Tampa Bay in the first game of a…