{"id":95442,"date":"2026-03-29T15:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T22:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=95442"},"modified":"2026-03-30T14:12:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:12:06","slug":"athletics-notes-blue-jays-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=95442","title":{"rendered":"Athletics Notes: Blue Jays Series"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-88564\" src=\"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/oakland_athletics.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"492\" height=\"328\" srcset=\"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/oakland_athletics.png 492w, https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/oakland_athletics-400x267.png 400w, https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/oakland_athletics-70x47.png 70w, https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/oakland_athletics-150x100.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 492px) 100vw, 492px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By Tim Byrnes<\/p>\n<p>I had about 2\/3 of today\u2019s column written before Sunday\u2019s 5-2 loss to Toronto, but after the game, I think I need an intervention AND a revision. This was one of the ugliest series at the plate that I have ever witnessed.<\/p>\n<p>So how bad? Swept!<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Athletics hitters, a 2025 Top 5 offensive powerhouse, struck out an MLB record 50 times in a season series opener. Opening Night, Shea Langeliers had three hits while everyone else went hitless.<\/p>\n<p>Langeliers homered twice and singled once, while the experiment of first baseman Nick Kurtz at leadoff went rough. Both Kurtz and Brent Rooker went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, and Athletics batters struck out 16 times, even achieving the rare: four strikeouts in an inning, thanks to a wild pitch.<\/p>\n<p>A\u2019s starter Luis Severino allowed two runs on three hits, three walks, and three strikeouts. Reliever Scott Barlow went 1 2\/3 innings and took three pitches or fewer to retire every hitter.<\/p>\n<p>Hogan Harris finished the seventh for Barlow, and had a fine 12-pitch eighth, and it was surprising that he didn\u2019t work the ninth.<\/p>\n<p>Justin Sterner had a horrible sequence of five pitches in the ninth, giving up two singles and a double to take the loss.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday produced similar results, with the Athletics squandering a four-run lead and losing 8-7 in 11 innings. The Athletics struck out 19 times, including seven consecutive batters. Rooker struck out three times for the second consecutive game and started 0-2 in 4-of-5 at-bats.<\/p>\n<p>Langeliers hit a grand slam, going 2-for-4, and Tyler Soderstrom added a double while going 2-for-5, but pitching failed the Athletics.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A&#039;s Opening Weekend Disaster: 50 Strikeouts and a Brutal Sweep\" width=\"520\" height=\"293\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OWPgx0a2NsE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Starter Jeffrey Springs had a solid outing, giving up two runs in five and 1\/3 innings, with five hits and three walks. He began the third inning: Single-Single-Double, but limited scoring to one run, going on to have a clean 12-pitch fourth and fifth innings.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Kotsay went through six relievers, with most allowing runs. Mark Leiter Jr. did his usual high-traffic, giving up a run on two hits, followed by Elvis Alvarado, who had a high-stress seventh inning, and I was surprised to see him start the eighth. He walked the first two batters on nine pitches before being replaced by Hogan Harris, and both ended up scoring.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Kelly gave up the game-tying home run in the ninth to push extra innings. After the A\u2019s took a 7-6 lead, Scott Barlow gave up a tying sacrifice-fly in the 10th, and the A\u2019s couldn\u2019t score again.<\/p>\n<p>Luis Medina intentionally walked a batter, and it backfired with a walkoff single by Ernie Clement in the bottom of the 11th inning.<\/p>\n<p>Sunday\u2019s game was the game I dreaded, with Luis Morales on the mound. He had a horrible Spring Training, and he was just as bad: Four and \u2153, five earned runs on five hits, two walks, and three strikeouts.<\/p>\n<p>Did he even read the Scouting Report? George Springer has the second-most home runs leading off a game, IN HISTORY! You might not want to throw a fastball first pitch, waist-high, because Springer made it 1-0 real quick.<\/p>\n<p>Morales gave up a two-run bomb to Jesus Sanchez two innings later, and a solo shot to Kazuma Okamoto in the fourth, his first MLB home run.<\/p>\n<p>JT Ginn had a solid relief appearance with three and 2\/3 of one-hit scoreless baseball, and while he walked in the fifth run, he set down the last ten batters he faced. With a nine-pitch sixth, 11-pitch seventh, and 10-pitch eighth, Ginn had the consistency the Athletics wanted from Morales, and if Morales continues to struggle, switching roles may become an option.<\/p>\n<p>Other than a Jacob Wilson double, followed by a Max Muncy home run, the A\u2019s scattered just three weak singles. Someone needs to answer for this approach because 34 (0-2) counts in a three-game series doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Next up: Atlanta Braves<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Tim Byrnes I had about 2\/3 of today\u2019s column written before Sunday\u2019s 5-2 loss to Toronto, but after the game, I think I need an intervention AND a revision. This was one of the ugliest series at the plate that I have ever witnessed. So how bad? Swept!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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-95442","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\/95442","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95442"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95459,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95442\/revisions\/95459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}