Los Angeles Dodgers Shohei Ohtani (17) rounds the bases and heads home past the Sacramento A’s Miguel Andujar (22) as Ohtani scores with Enrique Hernandez on a Mookie Betts double in the bottom of the eighth inning at Dodgers Stadium on Wed May 14, 2025 (AP News photo)

A Late Collapse Dooms A’s 9-3 in Spirited Battle at Chavez Ravine

By Mauricio Segura

By the time the lights dimmed at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night, the Sacramento Athletics had watched a legitimate effort come undone in one fateful inning. The green and gold traded punches with one of the National League’s top teams for seven innings, only to fall 9-3 to the Los Angeles Dodgers after a brutal five-run bottom of the eighth.

The night started with fireworks, literal and figurative, as Shohei Ohtani launched Gunnar Hoglund’s second pitch of the game into the right-field stands. It was Ohtani’s 13th home run of the season and an immediate reminder of the power the Dodgers bring to the plate.

But Hoglund, making just his third career start, composed himself quickly. The 24-year-old right-hander didn’t rattle. After giving up another solo shot to Andy Pages in the second, he settled in, showing why the A’s brought him up from Triple-A Las Vegas earlier this month. He struck out two and allowed just three earned runs in five-and-a-third innings, solid work considering the opposition.

Meanwhile, the A’s bats showed the same fervor everyone is getting used to. Tyler Soderstrom cracked his tenth home run of the year, a two-run blast in the third that knotted the game at 2-2. An inning later, Miguel Andujar gave the A’s their only lead of the night with an RBI double, scoring Shea Langeliers.

Langeliers, now riding a four-game hit streak, continued to solidify his spot behind the plate and on the lineup card. He reached base twice, stole a base, and caught Max Muncy napping with a slick fielding play in the fourth.

Hyeseong Kim, who entered the night without a major league homer, tied the game at three with a solo shot in the fifth. The two clubs remained deadlocked until the sixth, when pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas doubled off Michel Otañez to score Michael Conforto and give the Dodgers a 4-3 edge.

That lead held as Sacramento squandered a scoring chance in the eighth. Soderstrom’s double put the tying run in scoring position with one out, but Brent Rooker and Langeliers couldn’t bring him home. That proved costly.

The bottom of the eighth was a disaster. Tyler Ferguson entered with one out and one on. After an intentional walk to Ohtani, Mookie Betts roped a two-run double. Max Muncy capped the rally with a three-run homer off Ferguson, and just like that, the Dodgers had turned a one-run game into a blowout.

Sacramento went quietly in the ninth against Ben Casparius, who secured the win and dropped the Athletics to 22-21 on the season.

There were bright spots amid the loss. The A’s remain one of baseball’s most effective road teams, and Soderstrom continues to thrive under the lights, now hitting .317 with 19 RBIs away from home. Hoglund showed enough to earn another look in the rotation, and Langeliers continues to trend upward both at the plate and behind it.

Still, the loss was a reminder that against a lineup like the Dodgers, no lead, or tie, is ever safe.

The Athletics conclude this three game series Thursday night at Dodgers Stadium. Starting pitcher for Sacramento RHP Osvaldo Bido (2-3 ERA 4.75) for Los Angeles RHP Matt Sauer (1-0 ERA 1.54) first pitch 7:10pm PDT.

Costa Rican-born Mauricio Segura has been covering sports in the Bay Area since 2001 for a variety of magazines and newspapers, as well as his own publication, Golden Bay Times.