![\"\"](\"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/oakland_athletics.png\")
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By Tim Byrnes<\/p>\n
The days of passing off the Athletics success as a fluke are over. They took 2-of-3 against the then division-leading Astros and it was an off-series for Houston. The A\u2019s took 2-of-3 from division-leading Yankees and swept the Mets; only to hear claims of temperature helping the A\u2019s. Ummm ok, but when you manage a split with your division leaders, the Rangers, you are for real.<\/p>\n
We are going to call the opener, jet-lag, time zone issues, whatever, but not giving the Athletics an off-day after a New York road-trip seems almost sinister.<\/p>\n
It took all of 17-pitches to start complaining about the mound for Luis Severino and 19 to be down 3-0, because after walking two he served up a fatburger to Jake Burger. Burger touched him for a solo shot in the third but Severino settled in and went 6 1\/3 with four earned runs.<\/p>\n
Jack Perkins played Jekyll & Hyde with a 7-pitch seventh inning, only to throw basically batting practice. Giving up four runs in the eighth, Perkins left with one out after giving up two doubles, three singles, and a walk. Athletics bats were sporadic and save a Lawrence Butler solo-home run, couldn\u2019t score runs and lost 8-1.<\/p>\n
Jeffrey Springs is the A’s true #1 arm and while the first batter of the game doubled and later scored, Springs had an easy day on the bump. It took only six pitches to end the third inning and nine pitches to finish the sixth and Springs lasted 6 1\/3 innings. He only allowed three hits, two walks, and struck out five.<\/p>\n
After a Denzel Clarke double and walks to Shea Langeliers and Nick Kurtz, Jacob Wilson hit a 2-RBI single, and it was all the Athletics would need, winning 2-1.<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s game was the game that proved the recent success was no fluke, by securing at least a tie in the series, and having first place all to themselves for the first time since 2021.<\/p>\n
The A\u2019s won with small ball AND the long ball, starting in the first inning, with Carlos Cortes drawing a walk and scoring on a Tyler Soderstrom double.<\/p>\n
In the second Max Muncy was hit on the wrist and stole second base. Clarke hit an RBI-single to continue the small ball.<\/p>\n
Athletics starter JT Ginn gave the lead up when after giving up a Brandon Nimmo walk, he served up a home run to Corey Seager. Ginn lasted 5 1\/3 innings, giving up two earned-runs, and was relieved by Hogan Harris.<\/p>\n
Harris (1-0, 2.38 ERA) finished a scoreless sixth and the team broke through for him in the bottom half of the inning. Butler singled and Langeliers ended his home run drought with his sixth dinger of the season.<\/p>\n
After Scott Barlow pitched a scoreless seventh the A\u2019s added two important runs. Soderstrom led off with a walk and Wilson hit his first home run of the year, for a 6-2 lead.<\/p>\n
Enter A\u2019s reliever Mark Leiter Jr, who as \u201cking\u201d of allowing base runners went: walk, single, and with two outs served up another home run pitch to Jake Burger. Recently promoted Joel Kuhnel bailed out Leiter Jr, ending the eighth, and striking out two in the ninth for his third save in a week.<\/p>\n
Thursday was a lost win for the A\u2019s with Justin Sterner allowing four ninth inning runs and blowing a spectacular eighth inning comeback. After being down 2-0 early, Langeliers started a fifth inning rally with a walk, and Soderstrom doubled to put runners at second and third. Wilson followed with a 2-RBI single and Cortes drove him in to take a 3-2 lead.<\/p>\n
After the Rangers retook the lead on a Josh Jung two run shot, the A\u2019s thought they had the comeback of the year.<\/p>\n
In the eighth the Rangers walked Langeliers, who reached base five times to load the bases for Nick Kurtz. He cleared the bases to retake the lead 6-5 but reliever Justin Sterner allowed five of the first six to reach in the ninth, allowing four Rangers runs and a 9-6 loss. The A\u2019s split the series (2-2).<\/p>\n
The Athletics host: Chicago White Sox, Sutter Health Park 4\/17 6:40pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Tim Byrnes The days of passing off the Athletics success as a fluke are over. They took 2-of-3 against the then division-leading Astros and it was an off-series for Houston. The A\u2019s took 2-of-3 from division-leading Yankees and swept the Mets; only to hear claims of temperature helping the A\u2019s. Ummm ok, but when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11059],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baseball-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95790"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95799,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95790\/revisions\/95799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}