Sacramento A’s pitcher Luis Severino delivers against the Kansas City Royals line up in the bottom of the second inning at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City on Fri Jun 13, 2025 (AP News photo)

A’s Ride Rookie Bats and Road Warrior Severino to Victory in Kansas City

By Mauricio Segura

The Sacramento A’s rolled into Kansas City with the worst ERA in baseball, a battered bullpen, and a streak of futility that stretched across thousands of first-class travel miles. By the time Mason Miller squeezed the final out, they had a win that felt both rare and resilient, a 6-4 triumph over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium Friday night.

Luis Severino, who has quietly been a different pitcher away from home, turned in another solid road outing. The right-hander extended his dominant away split to 1-0 with a minuscule 0.87 ERA across five road starts. Friday night, he allowed just one run over five innings, putting the A’s in position to win, something they’ve rarely done for their starters this year, who’ve gone 3-16 since May 3.

Offensively, the green and gold leaned heavily on their young core. Rookie standout Jacob Wilson, who entered the game leading all MLB rookies in average, hits, and OPS, added two more hits and a walk, scoring twice. His performance helped extend a torrid stretch during which he’s hit safely in nine of his last ten games.

Austin Wynns opened the A’s scoring in the second with a solo home run, his fourth of the year, tying the game at 1-1. Then came a decisive rally in the third. After loading the bases, Nick Kurtz, another A’s rookie, delivered a go-ahead RBI single. In the fourth, Luis Urías added insurance with a solo blast, his seventh of the season, pushing the lead to 3-1.

The biggest blow came in the sixth. With the bases loaded, Tyler Soderstrom, who’s tied for eighth in the majors in go-ahead homers, drew a walk to force in a run. Max Muncy then followed with a two-run single to center, giving the A’s a commanding 6-1 lead.

Mason Miller, flashing his signature triple-digit heat, came on in the ninth to close it out. It wasn’t clean. A walk, another walk, and then a two-run triple by Nick Loftin suddenly made it 6-3. A sacrifice fly cut it to 6-4 before Miller slammed the door with a strikeout and a popup.

The win snaps the A’s 13-game road losing streak, their second longest in 29 years, and gives them a much-needed boost heading into Saturday’s matchup. Though they’ve still lost 24 of their last 29, they’ve now taken three of their last eight, and they’re finally showing signs of offensive life. Over their last 13 games, they’re averaging nearly five runs per contest and are batting .258 as a team.

Brent Rooker, who reached base again Friday night, has quietly reached in 19 of his last 21 games and is hitting .380 over that span. Meanwhile, Lawrence Butler extended his doubles lead (tied with Witt Jr.) and made things happen on the basepaths with his 11th stolen base of the season.

Even with the league’s worst bullpen ERA and the most home runs allowed, the A’s found a way to piece it together. For a team that’s cycled through 46 players, including 10 major league debuts, every win like this matters.

They’ll look to build on it Saturday with A’s starter LHP Jacob Lopez (0-4 ERA 6.00) on the mound, still chasing his first win of the year. For the Royals RHP Hunter Brown (8-3 ERA 1.82) first pitch 1:10pm PT.

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.

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