Another lackluster effort from the A’s dropped their early spring record to 0-2 after a second straight loss, this time to a different AL Central foe in the Cleveland Guardians. The A’s couldn’t bounce back after a rough third inning and now they’re 0-2 to start 2026. Good thing spring stats and records don’t matter!
At “home” for the first time this season, the A’s went with their staff leader this afternoon, giving right-hander Luis Severino his first start of camp as they begin the ramp up process
for their prized (and expensive) starting pitcher. The 32-year-old righty looked like he was in mid-season form as he tossed two scoreless innings, reaching 34 pitches. That’s about as encouraging a start as one could hope for from Sevy and we’ll all be hoping today was the start of a massive campaign for the could-be free agent.
We might only see Severino one or two more times before he departs the team to join Team Dominican Republic for the upcoming World Baseball Classic. That’ll essentially be his spring training continued, but you gotta put more stock into those outings than simple exhibition games in Arizona because you know he’ll be pitching for his team’s life. The A’s, and more or less every team in the league, will be watching that tournament closely for signs of things to come from all of their participating players.
Cleveland apparently was very happy that Sevy only went a couple frames today. Once he was pulled it was right-hander Joel Kuhnel’s turn and the Guardians jumped all over him. Without managing to finish the frame he yielded four earned runs, only getting bailed out by Kenya Huggins at the end of the inning. That seemed like it might have done it right then and there, but we still had six-and-a-half more innings to go.
Meanwhile on offense the A’s looked lost against Cleveland’s relief depth. While none of the Guardians’ primary arms were on the bump today that didn’t seem to matter for them as the Athletics’ offense managed just four hits all afternoon, with two coming off the bat of a single player.
They did have one chance to break through early. Three straight two-out walks loaded the bases for the A’s in the bottom of the second but Denzel Clarke grounded out to end that scoring opportunity. Not a great start to his camp as he went 0-for-2 in his first game this spring.
Cleveland scored another run in the fifth off of some small-ball against right-hander Luis Morales, who is widely expected to land a spot among the starting five in the rotation. One can’t help but have questions about the right-hander’s ability to begin the season in the rotation and make every scheduled start for the next six months. Are the A’s going to be limiting his outings to shorter 3-4 inning stints to keep his workload down early on? Keep in mind he set a career-high in innings pitched last year at 139 between the minors and big leagues.
The A’s had one final chance to score a run in the bottom half of the sixth thanks to a pair of hits from prospects Tommy White and Henry Bolte, but again were unable to break through and prevent a shutout. The A’s went down quietly after that, going home losers of two straight to begin Spring Training.
Well, at least it was closer than yesterday’s matchup. The offense went silent for the second straight day, collecting just four hits and three walks while striking out 14 times. Meanwhile the Guardians rode a big third inning to the win this afternoon. On the plus side for the A’s a lot of that damage came against one pitcher who was always unlikely to make the Opening Day roster. Most of the A’s arms that took the mound had a positive day and have something to build off of moving forward, most of all Severino. If today helps him get right for the next six months then this loss will be a long-forgotten memory soon.
We do it all again tomorrow as the Athletics go on the road to take on the San Francisco Giants. The A’s plan to start right-hander J.T. Ginn for tomorrow’s contest, where he’ll be expected to get up to around 25 or so pitches. Ginn is in a similar boat as Jack Perkins: lots of people are expecting them to settle into more or a longman/swingman role, but they’re fighting to prove that they can be a viable starting option for the A’s as they emerge from this rebuild. For pitchers like Ginn, these games actually do matter for their future. We’ll all be pulling for him because the A’s need to see some growth from some of these guys this coming season. The Giants will go with veteran JT Brubaker to begin tomorrow afternoon’s contest.
Ginn is scheduled to be followed by (in no order) prospects Gage Jump and Braden Nett, and relievers Elvis Alvarado and Tyler Ferguson. Others will join in but we can expect to see those arms on the mound tomorrow against the hated Giants. Who else is especially hyped to see Jump and Nett in action against big league hitters??
Notes:
- Nick Kurtz went 0-for-3 today with a punchout as the first hitter in the lineup, a spot he’s not unfamiliar with. Nothing to make you worry but we’ll be having this discussion all spring: does he really belong in the leadoff spot?
- Reliever Michael Kelly had a great day as he faced three batters and struck all three out. He’s been mentioned as a possible option to close games. Could he make it a no-brainer with a fantastic spring?
- Infielder Max Muncy didn’t start today’s game but pinch-hit for Brent Rooker in the sixth. He popped out there but later drew his first walk of the spring a couple of innings later. We did not see Darell Hernaiz take the field today…
- Second baseman Jeff McNeil got his first hit as an Athletic!
- But Jacob Wilson went 0-for-2. Thankfully no strikeouts, or else we’d really start worrying.
- Outfielder Carlos Cortes and infielder Andy Ibanez both went 0-for-1 with a walk each. Both are fringe roster players but there’s a decent enough chance both end up joining the A’s in Toronto next month. Today didn’t help or hurt their chances.
- Tommy White had two base hits today, displaying some of that hitting that is his calling card. If only he could manage a passable third base. Then we’d really be cooking with gas.
- Two errors today, both from expected starters. McNeil messed up fielding a grounder in the second frame, while Kurtz messed up a throw during that wild top of the third. Get these easy mistakes out of the way now, guys.
