Athletics - The Golden Bay Times

Chicago, IL - Shea Langeliers gave Sacramento a wild ride, but the Cubs got the last laugh in a 7-6 comeback win over the Athletics. The A’s had the game in their hands after J.T. Ginn worked six strong innings, allowing only Pete Crow-Armstrong’s solo homer while striking out seven. Sacramento broke through in the fourth when Langeliers homered to right center, then built a 4-0 lead in the sixth as Henry Bolte doubled home Alika Williams and Langeliers raced around the bases for an inside-the-park homer. After Crow-Armstrong answered for Chicago, the A’s seemed to take command in the seventh when Tyler Soderstrom and Jonah Heim launched back-to-back homers for a 6-1 lead. Then the Cubs began chipping away. Alex Bregman doubled and Ian Happ hit a two-run homer in the seventh, cutting it to 6-3. In the ninth, Chicago finished the job against the Sacramento bullpen. Michael Busch doubled, Happ doubled him in, Moisés Ballesteros added an infield RBI single, Seiya Suzuki singled, Dansby Swanson brought home another run, and Crow-Armstrong capped it with a two-run single to right. The Athletics still won the series, and Langeliers looked every bit like one of the league’s top catchers, but a five-run lead disappearing in the finale will sting a while for everyone on that flight to Houston after this tough, bruising defeat today. - By Mauricio Segura

Chicago, IL - Sacramento’s 5-4, 10-inning win over the Cubs was a grind built on late offense and a sturdy bullpen after Chicago’s extra-base power erased an early Athletics lead. The A’s jumped ahead 2-0 behind Carlos Cortes’ leadoff single, Nick Kurtz’s walk, Tyler Soderstrom’s RBI grounder, and Zack Gelof scoring on Alika Williams’ second-inning hit, but Jeffrey Springs could not hold it. Seiya Suzuki homered in the second, Pete Crow-Armstrong’s two-run shot put Chicago ahead in the third, and Michael Busch’s fourth-inning triple made it 4-2. From there, Sacramento’s relievers took over, with Joel Kuhnel, José Suarez, Mark Leiter Jr., Luis Medina, Hogan Harris, and Justin Sterner repeatedly escaping trouble and keeping the Cubs scoreless. The comeback began in the eighth when pinch-hitter Colby Thomas homered, Shea Langeliers doubled, and Soderstrom tied the game with a single before being thrown out stretching for second. After both teams went quietly in the ninth, Williams opened the 10th as the automatic runner, reached third on Jonah Heim’s groundout, and scored when Kurtz, freshly named American League Player of the Month, lined a go-ahead single to left. Sterner then stranded Chicago’s runner at third, sealing a tough win Sacramento had to wrestle away inning by inning and giving the club exactly the kind of resilient finish that can help steady a team through a difficult stretch. - By Mauricio Segura

Chicago, IL - The Athletics did not need an offensive explosion to earn a badly needed win. They needed poise, defense, and just enough timely hitting, and that is what carried them to a 2-1 victory over the Cubs. Rookie left-hander Gage Jump, making only his second Major League start, delivered seven strong innings, allowing one run on three hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Chicago scored first in the opening inning when Nico Hoerner singled, stole second, advanced on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s single, and came home on Alex Bregman’s grounder, but Jump quickly settled in. Shea Langeliers helped stop the Cubs from building more trouble, throwing out Crow-Armstrong at third in the first and Kevin Alcántara trying to steal second in the second. Nick Kurtz tied the game in the third with a solo homer to left-center, and Zack Gelof gave Sacramento the lead in the fourth with an RBI single after Brent Rooker and Henry Bolte opened the inning with hits. Jump retired the side in four straight innings before Justin Sterner worked a clean eighth. The ninth got tense after Hoerner walked and Crow-Armstrong singled, but Hogan Harris entered with two outs and retired Ian Happ on a fly ball to center to seal the win. - By Mauricio Segura

West Sacramento, CA - The Sacramento Athletics had the Yankees leaning early, then watched one inning turn a promising afternoon into a 13-8 loss that somehow still had a pulse late. Sacramento jumped ahead 3-0 in the first when Jonah Heim’s popup was misplayed by Trent Grisham, allowing two runs to score, and Lawrence Butler followed with an RBI single. Then the third inning swallowed the game whole. New York sent 18 batters to the plate, scored 13 runs, and had its first 12 hitters reach base, tying one of the Yankees’ biggest single-inning eruptions in more than a century. Ben Rice did the heaviest damage with a two-run double, a two-run triple, and four RBIs in the inning, while Will Warren settled in after the rough first and gave New York six innings with three unearned runs allowed. The A’s did not fold quietly. Brent Rooker homered in the seventh, Jonah Heim followed with a three-run shot, and Nick Kurtz added a late run-scoring double. But after that historic third, Sacramento was chasing a runaway train with a bicycle. - By Mauricio Segura

West Sacramento, CA - The Sacramento Athletics gave the Yankees a reminder that a losing streak can vanish quickly when the bats start speaking in full sentences. Shea Langeliers set the tone with a two-run homer in the first, giving J.T. Ginn breathing room before he turned in one of his best outings of the season. Ginn worked six strong innings, allowing four hits and no earned runs while striking out four, keeping New York from finding any real rhythm. Tyler Soderstrom added a solo homer in the sixth, and Nick Kurtz delivered the biggest swing in the seventh with a two-run shot that stretched Sacramento’s lead to 5-1. Zack Gelof’s eighth-inning RBI single became enormous insurance once the ninth turned into a high-wire act. The Yankees loaded the bases and forced in three runs on walks, cutting the lead to two and dragging the tension to the edge. Scott Barlow finally shut the door by getting Jazz Chisholm Jr. to ground out with the bases loaded, ending New York’s five-game winning streak and snapping Sacramento’s four-game skid with a 6-4 win. - By Mauricio Segura

West Sacramento, CA - The Sacramento Athletics spent the rest of the game trying to climb out of a first-inning hole that turned into a canyon, falling 8-2 to the New York Yankees after one costly mistake opened the door for four unearned runs. Luis Severino never settled in against his former club, allowing Aaron Judge’s run-scoring single before Paul Goldschmidt crushed a three-run homer that made Sacramento pay for Nick Kurtz’s throwing error. Kurtz answered right back with a solo shot in the bottom half, giving the A’s a quick pulse, but Severino left before the second inning with right arm soreness, forcing the bullpen into emergency duty. The Yankees kept leaning on the long ball, with Ryan McMahon and Ben Rice adding homers while Carlos Rodón held Sacramento to one run on four hits over six innings. Henry Bolte was one bright spot, collecting a career-best three hits, and Zack Gelof added a ninth-inning RBI single. Still, the A’s could not turn scattered contact into a real rally, leaving a rough first inning to tell most of the story.. - By Mauricio Segura

West Sacramento, CA - The Athletics’ grip on first place in the American League West looked shakier after Seattle turned early mistakes and steady pressure into a 9-1 win over Sacramento. The trouble started in the first inning, when J.P. Crawford singled, Josh Naylor reached on Jeff McNeil’s throwing error, and Rob Refsnyder punished the miscue with a three-run homer off Jeffrey Springs. Springs settled briefly, but Seattle struck again in the fourth after two outs, as Cole Young singled, Jhonny Pereda drew a free pass, and Colt Emerson drove both home with a two-run triple to right. Logan Gilbert kept the A’s quiet through six scoreless innings, allowing five hits while striking out six and shutting down Sacramento’s best threat after Shea Langeliers and Tyler Soderstrom reached to start the fourth. Seattle added another run in the sixth, then Julio Rodríguez removed any late doubt with a three-run homer in the eighth after an ABS challenge overturned a ball call. The A’s avoided a shutout in the ninth when Jonah Heim scored on McNeil’s double-play grounder, and there were small positives from Carlos Cortes, Soderstrom, Zack Gelof, and Henry Bolte. Still, the afternoon belonged to Seattle, leaving Sacramento with a quiet lineup, costly defense, and a thinner division cushion as the Mariners pulled closer and made the race feel a little less comfortable overall.. - By Mauricio Segura

West Sacramento, CA - The Athletics could not find enough answers against Emerson Hancock, and Seattle turned a handful of early chances into a 4-1 win that left the Green and Gold searching for traction at the plate. Gage Jump battled through five innings, striking out five, but the Mariners kept nudging him into trouble. Mitch Garver opened the scoring with an RBI ground-rule double in the second, Cole Young added a sacrifice fly in the third, and J.P. Crawford followed with another sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. Julio Rodríguez stretched the lead with an RBI single in the fourth, giving Hancock more than enough room to work. The Athletics’ best news came late, when Tyler Soderstrom broke through with a solo homer in the ninth to prevent the shutout, but the offense managed only limited damage before then. Nick Kurtz, who had been one of Sacramento’s steadiest sparks, saw his 48-game on-base streak end, a rare quiet note in an otherwise impressive stretch. It was a frustrating loss, not because the A’s folded, but because Seattle grabbed the margins first and never gave them back. - By Mauricio Segura

West Sacramento, CA - Seattle turned one rough inning into a long night for the Athletics, riding a six-run third and four home runs to a 9-2 win that left Sacramento chasing shadows almost from the start. Aaron Civale ran into trouble quickly, with Luke Raley and Dominic Canzone each blasting two-run homers in the third while Randy Arozarena added an RBI double to help Seattle break the game open. J.P. Crawford later added a solo shot, and Arozarena delivered the final thump with a two-run homer in the ninth, finishing 3-for-5 with three RBIs. The Athletics did not go quietly, but Luis Castillo kept them scoreless through four innings before Bryce Miller handled the final five, allowing only Shea Langeliers’ 13th homer and a late run when Tyler Soderstrom scored on Jeff McNeil’s double-play grounder. Nick Kurtz still gave Sacramento a meaningful silver lining, reaching base in the third to extend his on-base streak to 48 games, tying Mark McGwire’s single-season franchise record. Civale took the loss after seven earned runs in four innings, and the Athletics were left with one historic streak to celebrate and one lopsided score to forget. - By Mauricio Segura

San Diego, CA - Carlos Cortes gave the Athletics the fast start they had been missing, opening the game with a home run to right center and setting the tone after two frustrating losses in San Diego. The A’s added two more in the second when Zack Gelof walked, Henry Bolte doubled him home, and Alika Williams singled in Bolte for a 3-0 lead. Their defense helped protect it, especially in the fifth, when Tyler Soderstrom, Williams, and Jonah Heim combined on a sharp relay to cut down Ty France at the plate after Fernando Tatis Jr.’s double. Heim later scored on a wild pitch in the fourth, stretching the lead to 4-0. San Diego answered with Miguel Andujar scoring on Manny Machado’s sacrifice fly in the sixth and France homering in the seventh, trimming the margin to 4-2. The A’s found breathing room in the ninth when Cortes singled, Lawrence Butler pinch-ran, Nick Kurtz added a bunt single, and Soderstrom drove Butler home. Kurtz also extended his on-base streak to 47 games, passing Rickey Henderson for third in Athletics history. Hogan Harris created late tension with two walks, but Scott Barlow struck out Nick Castellanos and retired Tatis to seal a tough 5-2 win before the A’s return to Sacramento. - By Mauricio Segura

San Diego, CA - The Athletics let a winnable one slip away in San Diego, falling 2-0 to the Padres on a night when the box score felt less like domination and more like death by missed opportunity. Sacramento opened with real pressure against Lucas Giolito, as Carlos Cortes singled and Nick Kurtz followed with a hit to put runners at the corners, but Shea Langeliers, Brent Rooker, and Tyler Soderstrom could not cash it in. J.T. Ginn, fresh off his near no-hit bid against the Angels, battled traffic from the start and escaped the first, but the Padres scratched out a run in the second when Jackson Merrill stole second and later scored after Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. San Diego added another in the third when Nick Castellanos reached, Merrill doubled, and Ty France grounded him home. The A’s bullpen did its job, with José Suarez, Joel Kuhnel, and Scott Barlow keeping the game close, but the lineup kept stepping on rakes. The biggest gut punch came in the fourth, when Rooker, Soderstrom, and Henry Bolte loaded the bases before Jeff McNeil hit into a double play. Kurtz extended his on-base tear with two hits, and Langeliers doubled in the eighth, but Jason Adam and Mason Miller slammed every remaining door with cold, ruthless efficiency late. - By Mauricio Segura