Three home runs did us in tonight
In possibly the final spring training game at the Coliseum, the Athletics fell to the rival Giants by a final of 4-1 on a windy and cold night in the East Bay.
Sears solid
Lefty JP Sears got the ball today for his final spring start. At this point you stop experimenting with your pitches and really try to earn results. Sears has had a great spring training, entering today with a sparking 2.08 ERA with 15 K’s in 13 innings. Oakland’s best and most consistent pitcher last year, expectations are higher this year as he enters his second full season.
Today he looked solid in a short start that was likely planned. Sears went 3 2⁄3 innings while getting up to exactly 70 pitches. He only allowed two hits, but they both happened to be solo home runs, and by the same guy, Giants backup catcher Tom Murphy. Sears was also a bit wild tonight with three walks to go along with three strikeouts. If this was the regular season Sears would have probably stayed in much longer than today. Next time we see Sears on the mound will be on Saturday in Cleveland facing the Guardians, when games start to matter.
Sears was relieved by right-hander Michael Kelly, who looks to have a pretty solid shot of breaking camp with the club. Tonight did not go great for him however as he allowed two runs, including San Francisco’s third home run of the night. Oakland would need to climb out of a 4-0 hole if they wanted to get the win tonight.
Bats hopeless against Hicks…
On the other side of things, the Oakland bats had no answer for Giants starter Jordan Hicks. The A’s went hitless against the reliever-turned-starter and struck out ten times against the righty. The only baserunner they managed was a Zack Gelof walk in the first, but a stolen base did at least put a runner in scoring position at one point. Other than that for five innings the A’s were no-hit and looked helpless.
…But better against the bullpen
Once Hicks was finally out of the game, it was like someone flicked a switch in the A’s hitters. Young outfielder Lawrence Butler, who seems fairly certain to be on the Opening Day roster, led off the bottom of the sixth with Oakland’s first hit of the night. He advanced to second on a sac fly, bringing up Abraham Toro with an RBI opportunity:
Toro knocks in Butler for the A’s first run pic.twitter.com/hNCyXAdNt9
— A’s on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) March 26, 2024
On the board! That RBI single gave the A’s life and it showed. They loaded the bases after the Toro RBI hit but Esteury Ruiz grounded out to end the immediate threat.
That would be the best chance the A’s had to get back into this game in a real way. They brought up the game-tying run to the plate in the bottom of the eighth but Hoy Park grounded into a double play to end the threat, and they went down 1-2-3 in the ninth to end this game with a loss.
Tough night all around. The weather wasn’t great, the attendance was predictably low, the offense couldn’t muster much, the pitching was meh, and the Giants won what could be the final spring training game at the Coliseum. Not a fun way to go to bed but it is what it is.
The A’s will play their final exhibition game tomorrow evening across the Bay in San Francisco. Right-hander Paul Blackburn is slated to get the ball, hoping to help the A’s end spring on a winning note. A win tomorrow and the club will finish spring with a .500 record, so there’s a little motivation. Lets go into the season on a winning note.