The Athletics entered the fourth and final game of their series against the Texas Rangers seeking a third straight win and a series victory, but the Rangers instead earned a split with a 9-6 win in a wild, wind-swept finale.
Making his second home start of the season, A’s left-hander Jacob Lopez was sharp early, only throwing 25 pitches, striking out two and allowing just one walk over his first two innings. Rangers right-hander Jack Leiter was similarly sharp, issuing just one walk to A’s designated
hitter Shea Langeliers in his first two innings of work.
The Rangers broke through in the third. With one out, shortstop Ezequiel Duran doubled, and right fielder Brandon Nimmo followed with an RBI single to make it 1–0, but Lopez retired the next two hitters to limit the damage.
The A’s attempted to answer back immediately. With two outs in the bottom of the third, second baseman Jeff McNeil was hit by a pitch and then Langeliers got the A’s first hit of the game, a single to left. First baseman Nick Kurtz walked to load the bases for left fielder Tyler Soderstrom, who smacked a hard line drive that Nimmo caught in right field to end the hosts’ two-out rally. Through the first few innings, A’s hitters made plenty of hard contact off of Leiter, but failed to score.
Lopez worked around a leadoff double by Josh Jung to keep the Athletics deficit at one. The bottom of the fourth was another wasted scoring chance for the “Green and Gold”. After Carlos Cortes and Lawrence Butler singled, Leiter buckled down, getting the next two hitters to groundout to escape another jam unscathed. It marked the second-straight inning in which the A’s left multiple runners in scoring position.
In the fifth inning, Lopez lost his command, issuing three straight walks. With the bases loaded, Rangers first baseman Jake Burger continued his strong series with a sacrifice fly to double the lead to 2–0. The Rangers left two runners on as Lopez got third baseman Josh Jung to fly out to end the inning.
In the bottom of that inning, the A’s finally broke through against Leiter. Langeliers walked and then with two outs, Soderstrom hit a ground-rule double to right. Shortstop Jacob Wilson blooped a two-RBI single to right field.
He then stole second and scored on Cortes’ second single of the game. In a matter of minutes, the A’s turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
Lopez turned in arguably his best start of the season, only allowing two runs on three hits in five innings. In the sixth inning, A’s manager Mark Kotsay turned things over to his bullpen. Right-handed reliever Luis Medina quickly gave up the lead in his highest-leverage relief appearance of the season. Second baseman Josh Smith’s RBI double scored Joc Pederson, who had walked, to tie the game at three apiece.
The Rangers’ momentum carried over to the seventh. Facing A’s reliever Scott Barlow, Jung hit a fly ball that the wind carried over the short right-field fence for a go-ahead two-run home run. Barlow followed the home run by walking the next two batters, continuing the team’s issues with walks.
The A’s threatened in their half of the seventh, opening with back-to-back singles, but two Rangers relievers combined to retire the next three hitters. In the bottom of the eighth, the wind that hurt the A’s earlier helped them. The Rangers intentionally walked Langeliers, choosing to pitch to Kurtz with the bases loaded and two outs. Kurtz hit a fly ball that left fielder Wyatt Langford lost in the wind as it dropped in front of him. All three runners scored on the misplay, giving Kurtz a bases-clearing hit and the Athletics a 6-5 lead heading into the ninth.
Three outs away from taking the series, the hosts turned to right-hander Justin Sterner for the save opportunity. The decision backfired as the Rangers scored four runs on four hits against Sterner, responding to the A’s three-run frame the inning prior. The tying run scored on Sterner’s throwing error after he fielded a bunt and threw to third, where the ball was not caught by third baseman Darell Hernaiz. Texas added insurance runs before the Athletics came up empty in their final at-bats.
The Athletics will look to bounce back quickly as the Chicago White Sox arrive in Sacramento for a three-game weekend series to close out the home stand. Aaron Civale will make his first home start of the season, as he seeks to carry over his road success to Sutter Health Park. Civale will be opposed by White Sox right-hander Davis Martin, who is 2-1 with a 2.50 ERA.
