Jacob Wilson celebrating after hitting the game winning RBI single in the A’s victory against the Rangers on Thursday night. (Photo: Athletics on X)

By Jeremiah Salmonson

WEST SACRAMENTO — Chris Caray said it best on the A’s TV broadcast: “The A’s have arrived in West Sacramento,” Caray declared as Jacob Wilson was mobbed in right-center field after singling home Luis Urías to give the Athletics a 4-3 walk-off win over the Rangers.

Not only was it the A’s first walk-off win in Sacramento, but it also marked their first series win at their new home ballpark since relocating from Oakland this spring.

While I might seem unimpressed with Wilson’s late-game heroics, nothing about the walk-off surprised me. In fact, just before the hit, I turned to media members in the press box and said, “This is exactly the guy you want up right here.” That, of course, turned out to be true.

Jacob Wilson was the perfect man for the moment. His elite bat-to-ball skills prepared him for exactly that situation. The A’s had tied the game earlier in the inning after a walk and an untimely error in center field set the table for Wilson. Then, after seeking out advice from manager Mark Kotsay—who told Wilson before the at-bat, “He’s going to stay with the breaking ball, it’s [Luke Jackson’s] best pitch, so stay on the breaking ball”—Wilson did just that, drilling the ball to center field to score the winning run.

It was a true team win for the A’s. As Kotsay said, “Overall it was a group effort tonight. We used everyone except for Pereda on the bench. We got the matchups the way we wanted… it just felt good from a team standpoint tonight to get a win and a series win against a good team that’s leading the division.”

For a moment, things got dicey in the fourth inning. A’s starter J.T. Ginn struggled and was only able to go three and two-thirds innings, giving up three home runs—the only scoring for the Rangers. Two of those came on back-to-back swings.

However, the A’s bullpen was the unsung hero of the night, delivering another scoreless performance across four and a third innings. Hogan Harris, recently recalled from Las Vegas, tossed two and a third scoreless frames to steady the game for the A’s. “Phenomenal job by those two,” Kotsay said of Harris and Holman. “For Hogan, getting optioned early—he easily could have gone down to Triple-A and not been happy… but he went down there and threw the ball really well.”

Other notable performances included Tyler Soderstrom, who finished 2-for-4 with a two-RBI double, and Gio Urshela, who stayed hot with a 3-for-3 night before being pinch-hit for in the ninth inning.

With the win, the A’s improve to 12-13 on the season.

Up Next: The A’s will stay home to host the Chicago White Sox for a three-game series beginning Friday night at 7:05 PM PST at Sutter Health Park. The A’s swept the White Sox last week in Chicago.