A’s are racking up losses in a brutally historic way. ‘We suck right now’
The A’s now are losing in a truly historic fashion, with their worst stretch since 1943 as they struggle in their first season in West Sacramento.
Their latest defeat Monday night to the Minnesota Twins, 10-4, was their 18th loss in their last 19 games. It’s the club’s worst stretch since August 1943 when the team dropped 20 in a row while playing in Philadelphia. That team lost 24 of 25 while President Franklin D. Roosevelt was navigating the second World War.
“I mean, we suck right now,” A’s ace Luis Severino said after being tagged for eight runs in another rough outing at Sutter Health Park. “We’re not winning games. That’s the main thing. I feel like the hitters did enough to win the game, I just didn’t have it.”
Severino came into the game 0-4 with a 6.20 ERA in seven home starts. He allowed six runs in the second inning and two more in the sixth, ballooning his ERA in West Sacramento’s minor league stadium to 6.99.
The A’s starting pitchers are 0-12 since Jeffrey Springs last earned a victory on May 13 against the Dodgers.
Severino said his arm didn’t feel right and the velocity on his fastball was down. It led to manager Mark Kotsay and the A’s director of sports medicine, Brian Schulman, visiting Severino on the mound during the top of the third inning. Severino stayed in the game.
“They were concerned a little bit,” Severino said. “I was just feeling a little tight. ... My arm was not feeling the best.”
Closed-door meeting
The losing spell led Kotsay having a closed-door meeting during the team’s recent winless road trip that included two losses in Houston and a four-game sweep in Toronto.
“We haven’t won a game, but that’s not necessarily indicative of how they respond, right?” Kotsay said. “In terms of how they played, this game was competitive all the way through six innings. ... The fight is what we walked about, right? We have control of showing up and preparing to play a Major League game, having a plan going in and executing it.”
The A’s have lost seven straight after they snapped an 11-game losing streak on the final game of their last home stand May 25 against the Philadelphia Phillies. They fell to 9-20 at Sutter Health Park, which had an attendance Monday of 8,922, the second smallest of the season behind April 26 against the Chicago White Sox (8,832).
The A’s remain last in the American League West and are 23-38, a season-low 15 games under .500.
Kotsay still has support of his team despite the losing. He signed an extension in February that has him under contract through 2028. The A’s haven’t fired a manager midseason since Bob Geren was let go in June of 2011.
“I think when Kots speaks, we listen,” A’s slugger Brent Rooker said. “I think he’s doing a really good job leading us. We look to him for all the things that a team looks to its manager for and he does a fantastic job. So when he speaks, we pay attention, we play for him. ... So that’s definitely part of the motivation to go out there and turn this around.”
Butler shines
Leadoff hitter Lawrence Butler was responsible for all of the A’s offense, driving in three runs with a homer in the eighth and scoring the first run in the third inning on a Rooker groundout. Butler reached base five times on two hits and three walks.
The A’s had a chance in the fifth inning when they loaded the bases with no outs, but two straight popouts to shortstop and a groundout ended the threat. The A’s finished 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position while the Twins went 6-of-14. Byron Buxton drove in five runs on two hits with a sacrifice fly.
Shortstop Jacob Wilson, who is hitting .355 on the season and is a leading candidate to win Rookie of the Year, left the game in late after diving toward first base on a groundout to end the sixth inning. He stayed in the game defensively in the top of the seventh before he was replaced by Max Schuemann. It’s unclear if Wilson will miss any time.
“He just kind of jarred his neck a little bit,” Kotsay said.
The two teams will play the second game of the four-game series on Tuesday night.
This story was originally published June 2, 2025 at 11:48 PM.
