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Vibes were high at Hohokam Stadium today. After four straight losses and an off day, the A’s came out of the gate hot, scoring six of their seven runs in the just the first two innings!
On the pitching side, Jack Perkins was a standout. His two innings to start the game were perfect. No walks. No hits. A strike out for good measure as well as a fastball that sat around 96 mph. Pretty good! It was nice seeing him bounce back after a rough go around against the White Sox. I guess he was still flushing all that Mr. Pibb out of his system.
After a solid inning from Mark Leiter Jr. in the third, A’s pitching took a little bit of a dive. While Wei-En Lin isn’t guilty of surrendering any runs, his two free bases and low velo on the heater were far from encouraging. After his day was over, three straight innings, from the fifth to the seventh, saw the Rangers chip away at their deficit. The first came courtesy of a Tyler Wade home run. The former A took future former A Joel Kuhnel deep to right field, followed by two more runs in the sixth and seventh off of Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang. The righty had a rough day at the yard. Four hits were offered up including a Marco Torres dinger to center. Thankfully, things took a turn for the better after that. The last two frames saw Nick Hernandez and Brooks Kriske collectively hold the Rangers to no hits on three strikeouts.
Offensively, nine hits were racked up by the green and gold, with the bulk of that production coming from a couple of fan favorites. Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom, and Darrell Hernaiz each turned in 2 for 3 days at the plate. Rooker’s single to left put the A’s on the board early in the first. The newly acquired Jeff McNeil would then add to the total by knocking in Soderstrom with a nice little two-bagger to follow. Speaking of Soderstrom, in the last half of the second, the lefty picked up two RBIs off of a single to center. One batter later, B-Rook connected on a slider located on the outer half of the plate, which resulted in his first home run of the spring.
Eight of those nine hits by the green and gold were off of Rangers starter Cal Quantrill. After he was yanked in the third, A’s bats went a tad quiet. The last of bit of noise by the A’s took place in the fifth, thanks to a couple of Rangers’ errors and aggressive base running by Jeff McNeil, who went first to home with some pep.
It was a productive day at the ballpark indeed. Lots of positives. A few negatives. Overall, a good showing for the squad – – a departure from the four straight less than desirable performances we all had been subjected to. Tomorrow’s game against the Kansas City Royals will provide the A’s their first chance at back to back wins in the Cactus League this year. It’ll also be the first start for Jeffrey Springs in 2026! Let’s see if the A’s can keep things chugging!
NOTES:
- Before today’s game, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that the A’s have made an extension offer to Stickman Nick Kurtz. One would have to belief it’d be the largest contract in A’s history by far. What are your predictions for its total and do you realistically see the A’s locking up the first baseman this season?
- Former A’s broadcaster Glen Kuiper will be filling-in on a handful of San Francisco Giants games this season. This would mark his first return to the booth since his firing back in 2023. Damn shame it’s with the Giants :/
- A’s have circled March 8th as Jacob Lopez’s return to the hill. The lefty suffered a left elbow flexor strain at the end of the 2025 season. So far, his spring has mostly consisted of live BP’s and sides. If everything goes according to plan, his first outing will be against the Los Angeles Dodgers.