The A’s had the lead for a bit tonight but a late home run off the bullpen sunk the Athletics tonight, falling to St. Louis in the middle game of the series 2-1 and setting up a rubber match for tomorrow evening’s finale.
Severino dominant in return
The A’s welcomed back veteran starter Luis Severino tonight for his first start since the beginning of August. And taking the hill for game action for the first time in a month it looked like he never left. Severino was on his A-game this evening. The 31-year-old
right-hander allowed a single to the first batter he faced tonight but then immediately induced a groundball double play and finished the frame. He then proceeded to strike out the side in the second inning, looking as sharp as he has in an Athletics uniform early on.
He ran into his first and only real trouble of the day in the third inning. Back-to-back one-out singles put the first Cardinal baserunner in scoring position tonight but Sevy was able to get a groundout to escape. He then proceeded to pitch a couple more scoreless innings, including getting a lineout double play thanks to a little help from his rookie first baseman. He ended his day with likely more in the tank but better to take him out a bit early than too late.
- Luis Severino: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 61 pitches
Man, he was on a roll there. Severino looked fresh and ready to end his roller coaster season on a high note, and if he wasn’t coming right off of the injured list then there’s no doubt the veteran would have stayed in and kept going. There’s no reason to risk reinjury at this point and it’s more important to keep him healthy long-term than it is to see him pitch an extra inning or two. Hopefully he can pitch deeper in his next start, which is lined up to be against the Boston Red Sox next week, a team he’s seen plenty of in his career.
Athletics strike first
Looking to back up their starter, the A’s bats were going up against Cardinals backend starter Miles Mikolas. The Athletics broke through first in this one. Now in the third inning, a leadoff double from JJ Bleday preceded an RBI double from Nick Kurtz, who was making his own return to the starting lineup tonight:
That gave Severino a lead to work with, and also continued to pad Kurtz’s obvious lead for the Rookie of the Year award. He could honestly take the rest of the season off and still likely win the award. Good thing he’s healthy and raking for us still though!
The bats then went silent. Real silent. Over the next six innings the A’s would only collect two more hits, a single from Tyler Soderstrom (immediately wiped out in a double play) and a Zack Gelof double (stranded at third after leading off the fifth). They did manage to collect a couple of walks! An intentional one to Kurtz and one from Jacob Wilson in the eighth. Would one run be enough to hold onto the lead tonight?
Cardinals’ homer sinks A’s
The short answer was no. The A’s turned to the bullpen to start the sixth, first going with lefty Hogan Harris. A leadoff walk wasn’t a great way to start the frame off. Harris induced a couple outs, but they were productive and moved the runner to third base, just ninety feet away from tying this game. Looking to put out the fire manager Mark Kotsay dipped back into his relief unit, turning to right-hander Michael Kelly to get the A’s out of this jam. That is not what happened. Instead Kelly’s third pitch to catcher Ivan Herrera was deposited over the center field wall, not only tying this game but also taking the late lead for St. Louis. Sean Newcomb pitched the final two innings for the A’s and at least gave the bats a chance to strike back.
The early lead just didn’t last. The A’s went down in order in the ninth, letting this game slip through their grasp and dropping the team to 64-76 with 22 games to go.
It’s extremely hard to win a game when you only collect five hits and one run. Severino did his job and kept the Cards off the board in a triumphant return to the team. Kurtz continues to strike fear into opposing pitchers as he’s quickly becoming recognized as one of the best hitters in the sport. He can’t do it all himself though. The bullpen blew another late lead, something that has been a recurring theme for the 2025 A’s. That has to be a priority this offseason, right?
We wrap up the series tomorrow evening with a matchup pitting left-handers Jeffrey Springs and Matthew Liberatore against each other. Springs has been the one constant in the A’s rotation all year and he’ll bring a 4.17 ERA into tomorrow’s game. He’s already eclipsed his career-high in innings pitched so he may be on a limit down the stretch so keep an eye on that pitch count tomorrow. Liberatore meanwhile has posted a respectable 4.32 ERA over 25 starts, his first full season as a starting pitcher at the major league level. The 25-year-old is coming off a string of short outings so the A’s are going to try to knock him out early and get into the St. Louis ‘pen as fast as possible. We’ll see how successful they are tomorrow with the series on the line!
