Second inning betrays Athletics for second-consecutive game against Guardians
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Second inning lapses led to back-to-back early deficits and series losses vs Guardians.
- Bullpen delivered two consecutive scoreless performances, led on Sunday by Jack Perkins.
- A’s offense outhit Guardians Sunday but failed to capitalize with runners on base.
Sacramento Kings superstar Domantas Sabonis growing a Rollie Fingers signature mustache before throwing out the first pitch in Sunday’s A’s game with the Cleveland Guardians may have been the only thing that could’ve intensified the deja vu the now 32-48 home team felt. Fingers had thrown out the first pitch in Saturday’s 4-2 loss.
The two final games of the three-game series both had high-70s first-pitch temperatures despite the time difference between the night game and Sunday’s matinee and both teams’ lead-off hitters even had the same results.
Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan hit a hard line drive to right field for a base hit before getting stranded on the basepaths; he hit a lead-off double on Saturday. A’s lead-off hitter Lawrence Butler got down in the count early and was sat down looking by Guardians starter Slade Cecconi, which was eerily similar to the previous contest.
It was the top of the second inning that put the A’s in a hole early on Saturday, and the same frame did them in again.
This time, A’s starter JP Sears allowed three consecutive baserunners, including a double to Nolan Jones, that put the visitors up 2-0 before he struck out his third and fourth hitters of the day to end the frame.
The Athletics bullpen, which has the highest combined ERA in Major League Baseball 6.01, surrendered no runs for the second game in a row, but late offensive rallies again weren’t enough as the Guardians (39-37) took the game, 3-0, for the series win. The A’s won the series opener 5-1 on Friday.
“I thought he did a decent job keeping us in the game, managing the game,” A’s Manager Mark Kotsay said of Sears. “Those are the starts we need. Offensively, we’ve got to provide some help for him and today we just didn’t get anything going until late in the game.”
Sears battled, bullpen shined
Outside of the second inning, Sears worked out of multiple jams, including having runners on first and third with one out in the fourth, to keep the Guardians in check.
“I just gave a couple hits to the lefties that ended up producing runs. I feel like I can do a little better job of minimizing that,” Sears said. “I felt like I was pretty good in the zone today, a lot better command than my last outing, and a lot better fastballs than my last outing. Those are the positives I’ll take.”
“But it’s an L on the card.”
Going into Sunday, the A’s starter was pitching to a 5.45 ERA through 15 outings and had given up four or more runs in three of his previous five starts. Sears finished with five punchouts on Sunday.
After Tyler Ferguson threw a scoreless frame, it was the A’s No. 9 prospect Jack Perkins that tossed the remaining three innings in his MLB debut.
In 30 pitches, Perkins surrendered just one baserunner and struck out two while sporting a 98-mph fastball, dangerous cutter and sweeper.
“Those are the type of outings that we need from the bullpen to give us a chance to have an opportunity, which we did,” Kotsay said. “For Jack, it was an impressive debut.”
Perkins’ impressive outing included forcing Guardians superstar Jose Ramirez to ground out weakly after falling behind 3-0, but with his “bulldog mentality” in tow, he said he wasn’t even thinking about the batter.
“In the last couple days since I’ve known about this, I was thinking 60-feet, six-inches. The game doesn’t change,” Perkins said about his approach to the outing. “It might be a bigger stadium, might be a bigger atmosphere, bigger platform, but the game’s the game. So it’s just going out, executing my plan, having that bulldog mentality and just throwing my best stuff.”
“I felt at home a little bit.”
Offense couldn’t put it together
While the A’s outhit their opponents 9-8 and only had one inning without a baserunner, they were unable to mount a comeback after falling behind early for the second day in a row.
The Guardians starting pitchers went at least six innings in all three games of the series. Both Cecconi and Saturday’s hurler Luis Ortiz surrendered no runs and were hardly ever in trouble, while Guardians ace Tanner Bibee fanned 10 in a complete-game loss.
“This is a reason Cleveland is good,” Kotsay said. “Their starter kept the ball. We missed some pitches, but overall, (Cecconi) kept us at bay today.”
The A’s six strikeouts on Sunday — three against Cecconi — were much less than the 13 and 10 they racked up in the first two games of the series, respectively.
The A’s got a runner in scoring position in both innings after the visiting starter left the game, including a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the bottom of the ninth, but were unable to convert. Both Brent Rooker and Tyler Soderstrom had two hits a piece and were key parts of the late rallies.
The A’s will next embark on a nine-game road trip that will kick off with a three-game series with the Detroit Tigers. The first game will begin at 3:40 p.m. Tuesday in Detroit.
This story was originally published June 22, 2025 at 5:36 PM.
