![\"\"](\"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/oakland_athletics.png\")
By Tim Byrnes<\/p>\nBy Tim Byrnes<\/p>\n
The ghost of Athletics’ legendary skipper Connie Mack possessed current manager Mark Kotsay this weekend.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I am sure of it!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Lineups made sense. High on-base-percentage hitters were in the lineup before power hitters.<\/p>\n Every game versus Kansas City was “started” by a “starting pitcher.”<\/p>\n Middle relievers worked middle innings.<\/p>\n Setup men worked the eighth inning, and the closer closed. The 6-4 win in the series opener ended a 14-game road-losing streak for the A’s. <\/p>\n They followed that up with the first shutout by the Athletics since May 1, a 4-0 combined pitching gem by starter Jacob Lopez and relievers Michel Kelly & Hogan Harris.<\/p>\n In the 3-2 victory in the finale, 1B Nick Kurtz provided the 9th inning theatrics with a 411-foot bomb that was hit so high that Kurtz was three strides past first base before it landed.<\/p>\n Athletics Batting:<\/span><\/strong> Wilson had five hits in the series, and his .367 batting average is inching closer to NYY Aaron Judge (.378) for the best in MLB.<\/p>\n Urias batted .363 versus the Royals, added his seventh home run of the year, and has hits in seven of his last eight games.<\/p>\n C Austin Wynns, acquired from the Cincinnati Reds to cover duties while Shea Langeliers is on the 10-day IL, hit a home run in both games he played in and has a .346 average on the year. His power display may pull the backup catcher roll away from Willie MacIver, who is mired in a 1-for-19 slump.<\/p>\n Athletics Pitching:<\/span><\/strong> Luis Severino (2-6) pitched 7 2\/3 strong innings of one-run ball to notch his second victory and continued his dominance on the road.<\/p>\n With the win, Severino improved to 2-0 and is among MLB leaders with an amazing .93 era away from home. He remains winless at Sutter Health Park (0-6, 7.10 era).<\/p>\n LHP Jeffrey Springs scattered seven hits for only two runs over six innings and has become a solid starter that eats up innings. A nice trend for the pitching staff is Athletics pitching has given up two or fewer extra-base hits (xbh) in six of the last seven games.<\/p>\n Upcoming Series:<\/span><\/strong> The statistical comparisons for the series are typical for a set against the A’s.<\/p>\n The Athletics and Astros have nearly the same team batting average (.253 to .254), but the A’s dominate nearly every other offensive category (hits, runs, home runs, etc).<\/p>\n Having the worst team era in MLB, the A’s are giving up over two full runs more per game than the Astros.<\/p>\n Rested arms and better personnel decisions are gonna help our pitching staff.<\/p>\n Gametime:<\/span><\/strong> By Tim Byrnes The ghost of Athletics’ legendary skipper Connie Mack possessed current manager Mark Kotsay this weekend. I am sure of it!<\/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-90472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baseball-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90473,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90472\/revisions\/90473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe result was a series sweep of the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.<\/p>\n
\nWhile no one had a monster series, this sweep was a team effort.
\nFour players (Lawrence Butler, Jacob Wilson, Luis Urias, Denzel Clarke) had at least one hit in every game.<\/p>\n
\nEach starter went at least six innings, and Kotsay only used five relievers the entire series and gave his staff some much-needed rest.<\/p>\n
\nOf his 15 starts, Springs has completed at least six innings in 10 of them.<\/p>\n
\nWinners of their last five games, the first-place Houston Astros (41-30) travel to Sutter Health Park to take on the Athletics (29-44) for a four-game series.<\/p>\n
\nAstros RHP Lance McCullers Jr. (1-2, 4.91) versus Athletics RHP Mitch Spence (2-1, 3.67)
\nJune 16, 2025, 705pm
\nSutter Health Park, West Sacramento<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"