Soderstrom ties MLB lead with 6 homers, but Athletics fall to 0-4 in West Sacramento
The Athletics returned to West Sacramento on Monday night, opening a three-game series against the San Diego Padres under cloudy skies at Sutter Health Park. An announced crowd of 9,502 watched as the Padres edged the A’s 5-4, extending Oakland’s search for a first home victory.
The temperature for the first pitch was 66 degrees, a far cry from the blustery cold that added to the drudgery of an 18-3 loss in the March 31 opener.
With the defeat, the A’s remained winless at home, joining the Cleveland Guardians as the only teams in Major League Baseball without a home win this season. Cleveland, however, has yet to play at home. Their opener is scheduled for Tuesday.
The A’s went 0-3 in their opening home series last week against the Chicago Cubs. The club has lost its first four home games, with the Athletics (4-7) having earned each of their four victories on the road, in Seattle against the Mariners and in Colorado against the Rockies.
Friday’s series opener in Colorado included 37-degree weather and snow flurries, and the A’s prevailed 6-3 in 11 innings. On Saturday, the A’s beat the Rockies at Coors Field 7-4 before losing the series finale 12-5 on Sunday.
Pitching has been a sore spot for the A’s, particularly at home. Entering Monday, the A’s had allowed 62 runs, second most in the majors. The A’s entering the week owned the third highest ERA at 5.66, had issued the third most walks with 48 and were tied for third in MLB with most hit batters (seven).
The A’s gave up a two-run home run in the first inning Monday to Jake Cronenworth for a 3-0 Padres lead. In the seventh, Fernando Tatis Jr. crushed a solo home run that sailed over the left field fence and onto the new two-story A’s club house, a 406-foot shot for a Padres 5-3 lead, and A’s ace Luis Severino dropped to 0-2 on the season despite an otherwise solid outing.
The A’s have given up 10 home runs in their first four home games, the most for an opening series in the 125-year history of the franchise, according to the A’s media relations department.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Turlock native Tyler Soderstrom ripped a solo shot to right to pull his team to within 5-4, his second homer of the game and sixth of the season. Soderstrom is tied with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge for the most in Major League Baseball.
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“(Severino) went seven innings with five runs (allowed) overall,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said after the game. “That was a good performance. Two mistake pitches. He’s our ace right now, and you want him out on the mountain now.”
Of Soderstrom, a first-round pick by the A’s in 2020, Kotsay said: “He’s really found some zone discipline and is swinging at the right pitches. We all know the power he has, so it’s not a surprise. He’s riving the baseball. I love the approach, and now we’re seeing the results.”
Estes optioned
The A’s optioned struggling starter Joey Estes to Triple-A Las Vegas on Monday. Estes, 0-2 with a 15.43 ERA, allowed 12 runs on 15 hits and six walks over seven innings in two starts.
Still, Kotsay believes there is a future in the bigs for Estes.
“For Joey, those last two outings, I think the velocity was down a little bit from last season, the sharpness of the secondary stuff wasn’t effective, and my message for Joey was it was a reset,” Kotsay said before the game of the demotion. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in the kid, and that was another reason why we wanted to start out with him in the rotation. He’s a competitor, so I now he’s going to down and work on the things to get back here.”
Oakland promoted pitcher Jason Alexander from Las Vegas to fill the roster spot. To clear space on the 40-man roster, the A’s moved pitcher Brady Basso to the 60-day injured list.
This story was originally published April 8, 2025 at 9:22 AM.