All-Star Brent Rooker’s 20th home run powers A’s past Blue Jays, 4-3
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Defensive miscues from catchers have helped decide first two games of three-game series.
- Brent Rooker's 20th home run and bullpen execution sealed a 4-3 A’s victory.
- Strong relief work by Elvis Alvarado and Sean Newcomb preserved the A’s slim lead.
Catcher defense, from framing to pitch selection, is one of the most important factors in any given baseball game, although it rarely manifests in an obvious way that can be tracked by traditional stats.
Two games into a three-game series between the A’s and Toronto Blue Jays at Sutter Health Park, it has clearly decided both games.
In the devastating six-run fifth inning that led to the A’s 7-6 loss on Friday, catcher Shea Langeliers bobbled a throw to home that would’ve had George Springer easily and would’ve ended the inning without any damage. A strong comeback effort in the late innings wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit.
On Saturday, it worked in reverse as the A’s (40-57) held on to beat the Blue Jays (55-40), 4-3.
Blue Jays catcher Tyler Heineman began the third inning with a throwing error on a Denzel Clarke single that allowed the A’s center fielder to take second.
Later, Heineman’s second catcher’s interference of the game put Nick Kurtz on base, who later scored an unearned run off a Brent Rooker double to tie the game at 2-2. That unearned score, coupled with stellar pitching out of the bullpen, was enough to win it for the A’s on Saturday.
“It doesn’t happen often. I don’t think I’ve ever had a catch interference in my career, it’s like that was my first one. That was kind of weird,” said Rooker, a six-year MLB veteran, who reached on Heineman’s first catcher’s interference. “I didn’t know what happened because I’d never had that feeling before.”
According to Baseball Almanac, only three American League catchers have eclipsed Heineman’s three errors by committing four in a single game — all before 1930.
Offense got to Gausman
Before the game, Rooker took roughly 60 swings in a practice round for Monday’s Home Run Derby, pelting the netting above the ground beyond the left-field wall.
While Rooker said postgame that he was tired after the round, but he had plenty in the tank for one more shot in the fifth inning — his team-leading 20th of the year.
“I think that’s the first I’ve ever hit his splitter fair so that was a big win for me,” Rooker said of his two-run home run off Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman’s signature pitch. “I’ve swung a lot, I’ve missed it a lot and I’ve fouled it an awful lot, but I actually put that one in play so I think that was a big positive takeaway.”
Another standout performer for the A’s was outfielder Lawrence Butler, who worked two walks in plate appearances of at least six pitches and contributed an RBI single off Gausman in the third inning. The only time he didn’t reach base, a strikeout in the seventh, also came in a full count.
“It’s a mindset for Lawrence and I think the at-bats tonight show the right direction for him,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “He’s got to be able to get on base, be the table setter, but yet he still has power. Overall, staying consistent with the approach (and) staying consistent with the processes that we’ve put in place.”
In his first game back from a left hand contusion he suffered Tuesday, All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson went 1-for-4 and grounded out sharply to third in one at-bat.
Bullpen shines after Lopez
After Blue Jays outfielder George Springer seemingly reached on an infield single with no outs in the third inning, it wasn’t looking good for A’s starter Jacob Lopez.
While he had only given up one run on a Leo Jiménez home run, Lopez, who is pitching to a 4.26 ERA in 13 games this season, was looking shaky. Of his first 51 pitches, 24 were balls, and with Springer’s swing following an Ernie Clement double, he was looking at a potential jam.
But after a challenge by Kotsay reversed the call at first base, Lopez’s outing turned around and ended with 52 strikes on 87 pitches.
“I feel like I’m at my best when I could mix everything in there and just not lean on one pitch. Today was pretty good,” Lopez said.
While he would still allow Clement to score after a Bo Bichette double to put the A’s down 2-0, Lopez battled to get through five innings for the first time in his last three starts, keyed by two strikeouts of one of the league’s premier sluggers in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — who secured his 1,000th career hit Friday.
“I thought it was a good outing. It’s an all right-handed lineup that’s challenging, obviously, to work through,” Kotsay said of his left-handed starter. “The strikeout of Vlad, the walk off the mound. It’s a big emotional response and a big out for his outing that showed a lot of confidence.”
Following Lopez, reliever Elvis Alvarado nearly threw two spotless frames with four strikeouts until a 70 mph blooper to right resulted in a double that took him out of the game. Michael Kelly picked Alvarado up, however, by getting Springer to fly out to right.
“That was huge,” Lopez said of Alvarado’s performance.
A late comeback effort off Kelly in the eighth saw the Blue Jays close the gap to just one run with a man on third and one out as Sean Newcomb entered the game.
After working back from a 3-0 count to Addison Barger, Newcomb struck him out swinging and got Jiménez also in a 3-2 count to hold the lead.
“The big outs there that Newcomb got, that really was the game changer,” Kotsay said. “He executed his pitches and the 3-2 to Jiménez was a big pitch and a big out.”
Closer Mason Miller got the save, his 18th of the season, striking out Springer looking to end the game.
The three-game series will be decided by a matinee on Sunday, beginning 1:05 p.m. at Sutter Health Park.
This story was originally published July 12, 2025 at 11:39 PM.
