Well we got baseball. Some ugly baseball for A’s fans but baseball nonetheless. The Athletics dropped their first game of the 2026 season this afternoon, dropping the first Cactus League game to the Chicago White Sox 11-2 to kick things off down in Arizona.
Right-hander Jack Perkins was on the bump this afternoon, hoping to impress the coaching staff and put himself into real consideration for a rotation job. He was already facing an uphill battle in that regard and didn’t really help himself today.
He allowed a leadoff double and a pair of walks to load the bases, then gave up a two-run single that actually chased him from today’s contest. He got to 26 pitches which is where the team probably wanted him to reach this afternoon but it was a lot of work to get there and he didn’t even finish the frame. Shaky spring debut for Perkins to be sure.
Right-hander Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang came next and only made one mistake in his outing, allowing a solo home run to give the White Sox a lead they wouldn’t relinquish all day. Top prospect Wei-En Lin came on next and pitched a full inning but not before allowing a pair of runs himself. The game was already getting out of hand at this point and it’d only get worse as the day went on.
Relievers Eduarneil Nunez and Nick Anderson pitched an inning apiece, with Nunez collecting a pair of punchouts and Anderson one. Nunez has a high ceiling but he’ll need to really learn how to harness his stuff if he wants to reach those heights.
On the offensive side of things, the A’s didn’t have much going for them today. They were able to push across their first run of the game in the second thanks to a pair of singles, a productive out and a wild pitch. Not exactly small ball but a run is a run.
The team scored their second and final run in the top of the fifth thanks to some more poor White Sox defense, but that was it from the A’s offense today. The Sox ended up scoring five more times over the final few frames against some depth arms trying to crack the bullpen to push the score to the eventual final of 11-2. Not a great day in the runs department but wins are meaningless this time of year anyway.
Here’s a wrap up of some of the most notable lines from today’s contest:
Third-string catcher is one of the camp battles going on this spring thanks to the departure of former first-round pick Daniel Susac, but glove-first backstop Brian Serven is fighting for that spot and had himself a day at the plate, collecting a pair of doubles to cap a 3-for-3 day in the batter’s box.
And third base. Man, this could be a spring-long battle we have on our hands. Max Muncy, Darell Hernaiz, and Brett Harris, all of whom are fighting for that job, all collected hits today. No one seperated themselves from the pack but we are off to a good start at that positional battle.
Elsewhere outfield prospect Junior Perez collected a single this afternoon while fellow outfielders Henry Bolte and Colby Thomas went hitless. It’d take a massive camp for Perez to sneak his way onto the Opening Day roster but if he’s going to do it then today was a good start.
That’s about it folks. The A’s got their butt handed to them today but we do it all again tomorrow! The Cleveland Guardians roll into town for the A’s first home game of Spring Training tomorrow. The club plans to go with veteran Luis Severino for tomorrow’s contest, likely following Perkins in only doing one inning or so. Sevy will be followed by fellow starter Luis Morales, relievers Brady Basso and Michael Kelly, and at some point we’ll also get to see prospect Kade Morris on the bump. Hopefully tomorrow goes much better than today’s game! Baseball is back and everything is right in the world again.
