MidValleySports.Com

By Tim Byrnes

The Athletics finally began making serious moves to prepare for the move to Las Vegas in 2028. Pitching coach Scott Emerson was given his walking papers mid-July, and the results were seen immediately. Starter Jacob Lopez was stuck with a 6.83 era on the season when Emerson was canned and has sported an era of 2.29 ever since.

Friday afternoon A’s GM David Forst was shown the door, after failing to reach the playoffs for the last six seasons. Forst built the second worst pitching staff in baseball, who have played so badly that the team ERA is challenging the Colorado Rockies for the worst in baseball.

The ghost of Forst’ bad decisions will be felt for the next few seasons as the team continues to shed many of the reasons for the futility of Athletics baseball since the 2020 season.

While changing GMs usually doesn’t translate to winning immediately, the A’s broke a streak of losing 12-straight series, by defeating Boston on Sunday, 4-3.

(Red Sox: 13-1)
The Athletics went out and laid an egg in the opener, both on the mound and at the plate. At the plate, the A’s went two batters over the minimum with just two hits and zero drawn walks. They went down 1-2-3 in a horrible seven-of-nine innings in the opener, with the only run being on a solo-home run by Tyler Soderstrom, after Boston had already put up nine runs.

Boston starter Payton Tolle carved A’s batters for 14 of the Red Sox 16 strikeouts issued and it looked like the A’s would never change.

Athletics starter Jack Perkins was absolutely shelled, giving up five runs in just three innings of work. Perkins (L 2-8, 7.04) and the A’s pitching staff allowed six Red Sox hitters to have multi-hit days and it appeared the nine-game losing streak would continue.

(Athletics: 7-3)
Saturday Athletics starter rookie Gage Jump navigated trouble with a career-high eleven strikeouts and the team changed their bad momentum for the first time in weeks.

Jump (W 5-7, 4.46) was down 2-0 just minutes into the game, giving up two singles, a walk, and three stolen bases before anyone had settled into their seats. Jump went on to pitch six innings and not give up any further damage at the plate.

Soderstrom hit his second solo-homer in as many days and Henry Bolte hit a 439 feet/111.5 mph off-the-bat home run to pace the A’s and break the losing streak.

Giving in to old habits, reliever Hogan Harris made it interesting by loading the bases in the ninth inning, allowing a run and bringing the tying run to the plate for the Red Sox, but he managed the final out for his 10th save.

(Athletics: 4-3)
Alika Williams’ pinch-hit single with two outs in the ninth inning extended life for the A’s, starting a sequence of events that won the A’s a series. Running for Williams, Donovan Walton steals second base, and Max Muncy promptly hits an RBI-double for a 4-3 lead and the eventual winning run.

Athletics starter JT Ginn continues to pitch well, going six innings, and giving up just one earned run. It was his second start since returning off the 10-day IL and has an outstanding 3.00 ERA for the month of August.

The bullpen pitched three scoreless innings of relief beginning with Brady Basso taking all of nine pitches to finish the seventh inning.

Elvis Alvarado (W 4-3, 4.46) took the win with his own 1-2-3, eleven-pitch eighth inning, but being the Athletics there had to be drama and it was again reliever Hogan Harris. Harris allowed Jamai Jones to open the ninth with a single, and a one-out walk to Caleb Durbin put the tying run in scoring position, but he retired the final two batters for his eleventh save of the season.

The win ends the “series-losing streak” at an astonishing twelve series and it was the team’s first back-to-back wins since June 26th.

Next: 8/10 640pm Tampa Bay Rays Sutter Health Park West Sacramento Ca