Detroit Tigers pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez throws to an Oakland Athletics batter during the sixth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on the last A’s home game on Sun Sep 24, 2023 (AP News photo)

Detroit (73-83). 002 000 000. – 2. 11. 0
Oakland (48-108). 000 000 000 – 0. 7. 1

Time: 2:34

Attendance: 13,102

Sunday, September 24, 2023

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND—Well, that did it. The Oakland Athletics wrapped up their home season with 2-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers in a contest riddled with missed opportunities.

JP Sears, who had struggled through a 5-12, 4.52 season, also struggled again this afternoon. He faced 23 batters over five innings, throwing them 97 pitches 58 of them strikes. He allowed two runs, both of them earned but not entirely his fault. He struck out seven and walked two before being relieved in the sixth by Adrián Martínez, who threw 2+ scoreless innings. Sears took the loss and went home with a record of 5-13, 4.49.

Martínez held the Tigers in check for 2+ frames before yielding to Kyle Muller with Jake Rogers on first with a bloop single to center. Muller managed to keep the Tigers off the board in the eighth, with a little help from a great throw by Rooker to nab Zach McKinstry trying to advance from first to third. McKinstry had gotten on base when Noda made a fine grab and throw of his attempted sacrifice to force Rogers out at second. Zach Neal hurled a scoreless ninth..

Opposing Sears in this battle of southpaws, was Eduardo Rodríguez, (11-9, 3.57 at game time), who did a fine job in his seven innings of work. He shut the Athletics out on five hits, four walks, and a wild pitch.He threw an even 100 pitches; 61 counted as strikes, chalking up five Ks.

Jason Foley followed him and was pulled in favor of Alex Lange after allowing a two out single to Rooker. Langer fanned the pinch hitting Seth Brown to end the inning and then stayed on to close out the game. Rodríguez earned the win, his 12th against nine losses and brought his ERA down to 3.40. Langer earned the save, his 25th.

Miguel Cabrera was in Detroit’s starting line up as the designated hitter. He closed out his Coliseum career by going 0 for 4 with a walk but drew loud applause after his last at bat, at which he struck out

Esteury Ruíz, leading off instead of batting in his recent number nine slot in order to improve his chances of breaking the record of stolen bases by an American League rookie (66) made two attempts in the bottom of the first.

He was successful in pilfering second but was out by a mile when he tried to steal third. That brought his total to 64. Ruíz’s leadoff double in the fourth gave him another chance to steal. He took advantage of it as the lead runner in a double steal that he and Gelof pulled off, catcher Jake Robinson’s throwing straight through to second.

That gave the A’s two runners in scoring position with none out. They blew that opportunity. when Ruíz was thrown out at home on Rooker’s grounder to third and Díaz bounced into an inning ending double play. It was a case of The Curse of the Leadoff Double being compounded by The Curse of the Double Steal and The Curse of the Double Play.

Another base running error conspired with The Curse of the Leadoff Double one inning later. Shea Langeliers laced the fatidic two bagger and then tried to advance to third on Ryan Noda’s hard ground ball to short. He. was not successful. The A’s went on to load the bases and leave three more runners on base.

Sears was the victim of some poor fielding in the top or the third that teamed up with a couple of Tiger hits to give the visitors the 2-0 lead they would hold for the rest of the game. Parker Meadows banged a double off the Budweiser ad beneath the 362 foot marker in left field. Matt Vierling followed with a walk.

Andy Ibáñez lifted a pop fly to short right. Zack Gelof attempted an over the shoulder catch but couldn’t keep the ball in his glove; it was scored as. single. Spencer Torkelson’s fly to right fell in for a single, driving in the two runners, and Torkelson took second on Rooker’s errant throw to the infield. Sears bore down, and second base is where Torkelson was stranded. Sears, Martínez, Muller, and Neal shut the Tigers down from there on.

The A’s will travel on Minneapolis and Anaheim for the half a dozen games remaining in their schedule. Paul Blackman (4-6, 4,11) will face the Twins on Tuesday at 4:40 Pacific Time. The Twins will go against Kenta Maeda (6-7, 4.28).