A’s earn boos in West Sacramento as they lose 10th in a row, lashed 23-4 at home
The Athletics have been the worst team in Major League Baseball for nearly two months and reinforced that point Friday night in their first game since the All-Star break.
They returned to Sutter Health Park with an alarming 23-4 loss to the Washington Nationals.
“There’s not a lot to explain,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “We played really bad baseball all around.”
The defeat was the A’s 10th straight while dropping 14 of their last 15. Their 15-32 record since May 22 is the worst in Major League Baseball. Their run differential is an MLB-worst minus-125, with no other team in the triple digits.
“We talked about limiting damage, we didn’t do that tonight,” Kotsay said. “We talked about limiting free bases, we didn’t do that tonight. We talked about playing good defense, we didn’t do that tonight. And rightfully so, the fans let us know.”
The crowd of 11,087 gave the A’s hearty boos in the sixth inning while rookie Henry Bolte had one of the worst defensive frames a center fielder could have — it came while Washington ballooned its lead to 14-2.
The sequence started with Bolte being unable to see a fly ball that should have been an out but turned into a double. He misplayed a ground-ball single that gave away an extra base and allowed a run to score. A batter later, he got turned around on a deep fly that could have been caught, but went for another double. The inning ended on a pop fly in which right fielder Lawrence Butler appeared to cut in front of him to make the catch and avoid Bolte having to try to make another play.
“It’s a tough inning for Henry,” Kotsay said. “I thought he handled it professionally. Any time you go through adversity, you want to see how players react. He held his head high and continued to give an effort throughout the rest of the game.”
The A’s have been dealing with injuries and veterans underperforming throughout the season, but their stretch over the last 47 games has started to have repercussions. The team fired long-time pitching coach Scott Emerson on Monday and replaced him with bullpen coach Dan Hubbs on an interim basis.
In Hubbs’ debut, his pitchers allowed 23 runs Friday night which, tied with last month’s 23-9 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Las Vegas Ballpark, is the most the Athletics have allowed in a game since 1955, when they were the Kansas City A’s.
Six Nationals hitters had multi-hit games, including Curtis Mead and Andres Chaparro, who drove in 11 runs combined. Chaparro had two home runs, giving him 15 for the season.
The A’s used six pitchers including outfielder Carlos Cortez, who switched from designated hitter in the ninth inning. It was his fifth pitching appearance of the season, a reflection of the number of blowouts the A’s have suffered.
A’s continue terrible play in West Sacramento
The A’s 19-29 record at Sutter Health Park is the worst mark in the American League, continuing a trend from last season when the club first got to West Sacramento. The team ended 2025 with the league’s second-worst home record.
The minor league stadium has been a band box for Major League hitters, with statcast’s “Park Factor” metric signaling it’s the second-most hitter-friendly park in baseball behind Coors Field in Denver, where altitude plays a role. Kotsay said before Friday’s game the organization spent time during the All-Star break trying to find ways pitchers can survive after firing Emerson.
“You talk about an All-Star break that was maybe less relaxing,” Kotsay said. “... I think the best thing that we can do from a staff standpoint is just kind of reiterate: when we execute pitches, we have success. There are days when we pitch well in this ballpark. Identifying how we’ve done that is the key for our pitching coaches, for myself, for the baseball operations group. That’s been the focal point for four days.”
Obviously, allowing 23 runs to Nationals wasn’t the start that Kotsay had in mind.
Starter Gage Jump, the hard-throwing rookie left-hander, has been a bright spot in an increasingly dreary A’s season. But he was lifted in the fourth inning, forcing Kotsay toward the team’s struggling bullpen earlier than expected.
“I tried to turn it around today, especially being the first game back,” Jump said when asked about the state of the A’s spirit. “And it’s not what I wanted. So it’s hard.”
Jump was taken out after allowing four runs on four hits. He showed his typically explosive pitch arsenal while striking out eight, but the Nationals made him pay for mistakes during their three-run third inning and when Jacob Young doubled home Harry Ford in the fourth.
“He had eight strikeouts but wasn’t really locating the baseball,” Kotsay said. “We talked a lot about, ‘you can have stuff, but even if you have stuff, you got to locate your pitches. I think that was key for Gage.”
Young A’s reinforcements
The A’s promoted two prospects earlier in the day they hope can help get things back on track. First baseman Tommy White made his Major League debut while All-Star first baseman Nick Kurtz remains out with a right thumb capsule strain. White got his first career hit when he doubled in the eighth inning.
They also brought up right-hander Yunior Tur, a 6-foot-6 Cuban national who has worked both as a starter and reliever in the minors leagues. Tur had spent all of 2026 with Triple-A Las Vegas where he posted a 4.41 ERA in 27 appearances with 64 strikeouts in 51.0 innings.
Tur had a rough go in his debut allowing six runs in two innings. Kotsay didn’t have flattering things to say about his outing afterwards.
“There’s a lot for Yunior to improve on,” Kotsay said. “There were things talked about, whether he was tipping pitches, slow times to the plate. There’s a lot of things to clean up for Yunior right now.”
The only bright spot for the A’s was a two-run home run from Tyler Soderstrom in the fourth inning that made it a 4-2 game. Their two other runs came in the ninth inning, down 23-2 against third baseman Jorbit Vivas on the mound.
The two teams will play the second game of the three-game set on Saturday when right-hander J.T. Ginn (7-6, 3.76 ERA) goes against fellow righty Zack Littell (7-6, 4.90).
