Severino overcomes mound issues for best Sutter Health Park start yet in A’s win
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Luis Severino overcame early mound slips to earn first home win of the season.
- Severino pitched five innings with one run and six strikeouts.
- Trade rumors swirl as A’s face Severino decision before Thursday’s deadline.
Luis Severino fell over twice after losing his footing on pitches to the first hitter of the game Tuesday, continuing his season-long battle with the confines of Sutter Health Park.
“I think me and the mound, we don’t like each other,” Severino joked after the Athletics beat the Mariners 6-1. “Something’s going on there.”
Severino slipped on the second and third pitches of the game in the opening at-bat against J.P. Crawford while struggling to get traction with his right foot he uses to push off the pitching rubber. It led to a momentary delay after Severino picked himself off the dirt twice before walking Crawford on four pitches. It required a handful of warmup throws to ensure he wouldn’t fall again.
“The mound wasn’t great for him to start out,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay, who went to the mound during the delay to make sure Severino wasn’t injured. “He ended up making an adjustment and digging it out a little more and getting his foot set to where he had some leverage off the push.”
Of course, it wasn’t the first time Severino has had issues with the playing conditions at Sutter Health Park, the minor-league stadium the Major League team is using temporarily ahead of its planned move to Las Vegas. Severino has often discussed his inability to get comfortable there largely because he can’t return to the clubhouse between innings given it’s beyond the left field wall instead of behind the dugout.
“We knew coming here there were going to be things that were challenging, that were new,” Kotsay said. “And anytime you experience new or change, it takes time to make that adjustment to get comfortable. I think (Severino’s) found a rhythm here and a comfortability with his surroundings to be able to just focus on going out and performing.”
And given Severino’s well-chronicled struggles in his home stadium, the first batter had the look of a bad omen for the rest of the night.
But Severino wound up throwing one of his best games of the season — and unquestionably had his best performance to date in West Sacramento.
Severino allowed one run over five innings with six strikeouts. It matched his outing April 13 against the New York Mets for the fewest earned runs he’s allowed in a home start. He earned his third straight win after getting road victories in Cleveland and Houston. It was his first victory of the season at Sutter Health Park after he came in 0-9 with a 6.68 ERA in 12 home appearances.
Severino traced his recent uptick to his July 11 outing against the Toronto Blue Jays. He was given the loss while allowing five runs (one earned), with eight strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings. Since then, he’s allowed five earned runs over his last three starts, good for a 2.65 ERA, with 17 strikeouts in 17 innings.
“I only threw four innings, but I feel like I was on the right track,” Severino said of the turning point he felt against Toronto. “I look at that video, look at what I was doing right, and just took advantage of that. Trying to work in the bullpens between outings, working on my fastball command, and being aggressive.
“I was thinking, ‘What were the pitches (that) helped me get here and get to this level?’ I feel like at the beginning (of the season), I was running away from that. I feel like I just found myself again.”
The A’s presumptive ace retired 10 straight hitters before Randy Arozarena singled in the fourth inning. He allowed four straight hitters to reach, but only surrendered one run. He escaped a bases-loaded jam thanks to new shortstop Darell Harnaiz making a great play on Cole Young’s hard one-hopper up the middle.
“I told him after that, I owe him something,” Severino said. “I need to buy him something because of that great play, maybe some shoes or something that he likes.”
Could A’s trade Severino?
Severino’s recent improvement comes as Major League Baseball’s trade deadline looms, 3 p.m. Thursday. His name has been in trade rumors since he made his apparent displeasure with Sutter Health Park known early in the season.
But Severino said he hasn’t had any discussions with the front office about a potential trade.
The A’s signed Severino to a team-record three-year, $67 million deal in the offseason. It was $1 million more than the team gave Eric Chavez in 2004. Any team trading for him would be on the hook for the remainder of the $20 million for this season, $25 million for 2026 and $22 million on his player option in 2027, according to Spotrac.
Rooker homers
The A’s scored four runs in the third inning with three coming on All-Star slugger Brent Rooker’s 22nd home run of the season. They tacked on two more in the fifth on a solo shot from catcher Shea Langaliers (18) and an RBI-double from third baseman Miguel Andujar.
Rooker’s name has not been mentioned in trade rumors after signing a five-year, $60 million contract in the offseason, but he said his teammates know what might lie ahead over the next two days while the A’s remain in last place in the American League West at 47-63 on Tuesday night, seven games behind the fourth-place Los Angeles Angels and 15 games behind the first-place Houston Astros.
“Obviously we love the guys that we have in here,” Rooker said. “We don’t want to see anybody go, but the reality of the business is what it is. We’re just focusing on trying to show up here tomorrow and win this last game of the series.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 10:54 PM.
