Jeffrey Springs #59 of the Athletics pitches against the Chicago White Sox in the top of the second inning at Sutter Health Park on April 19, 2026 in Sacramento, California. (Mandatory photo credit: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

By Jeremiah Salmonson

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Athletics and White Sox scrapped in the rubber match of a three-game series on Sunday afternoon at Sutter Health Park. It was another sold-out crowd, the fourth of the season for the A’s, as 12,070 patrons took in the action on a perfect 74-degree day at the ballpark.

The White Sox pounced on the A’s early and prevented a late push as they defeated the A’s 7-4.

Jeffrey Springs got the ball for the A’s to make his fourth start of the season on Sunday. The game didn’t go according to plan for Springs as he labored through five tumultuous innings before being lifted after throwing 85 pitches. Springs gave up seven runs on nine hits while walking one and striking out seven in his outing. Springs suffered from the long ball all game as he gave up four home runs in his five innings of work.

“…Overall, it looked like the ball was just up in the zone,” Mark Kotsay said after the game about Springs. “This is an aggressive free-swinging team and I think today we just couldn’t execute down below and get that chase that we needed and get it off the barrel.”

The bullpen put up a solid effort in the loss as A’s manager Mark Kotsay used three arms in his pen to finish out the game.

The first out of the bullpen was Mason Barnett, who was recently promoted from Triple-A when Elvis Alvarado was sent down. The idea is that Barnett can serve as a long man for the time being until the A’s brutal stretch of 16 straight days without an off day ends this upcoming Thursday. On Sunday, Barnett came in and tossed two solid innings of one-hit, no-run baseball while he walked two batters. It was a great first effort out of the pen and set the A’s up with an opportunity at a comeback effort.

Luis Medina was next up for the A’s as he tossed a scoreless eighth inning after Barnett walked the first batter and allowed a single to the second. Medina worked out of it and put up a scoreless frame and needed just eight pitches to do it.

In the ninth inning, the A’s turned to Scott Barlow and he delivered. Barlow finished the top of the ninth with ease, allowing nothing while striking out two on just 15 pitches.

On offense, it was too few and far between for the A’s, who attempted some rallies, but none that came up large enough. In total, the A’s only managed five hits and three walks in the game.

The A’s first run came in the second inning when Darell Hernaiz hit a high, towering solo home run to left field. Hernaiz’s homer was lifted at a 35-degree launch angle and traveled 396 feet.

The A’s second and final scoring came in the seventh inning when Zack Gelof hit a two-run double down the right-field line to score Tyler Soderstrom and Darell Hernaiz to get the A’s to within three. After Gelof advanced to third on the throw following his double, he then came in to score on a wild pitch a few pitches later for the A’s fourth run of the game. That would be the last run the A’s scored as they fell to the White Sox, 7-4.

It was a tough series for the A’s against an opponent that, on paper going into the series, the A’s should have won.

Mark Kotsay discussed the difficult series after the game, saying, “Tough series. We talked about it. A young aggressive team… overall tough loss.”

With the loss, the A’s fell back to the .500 mark and are 11-11 on the young season.

The A’s will fly to Seattle to take on the Mariners in a three-game series beginning Monday at 6:40 p.m. PST. It is the A’s final series before their 16 games in 16 days finally ends. J.T. Ginn (0-0, 3.31 ERA) is slated to start for the A’s as the Mariners plan to turn to Emerson Hancock (2-1, 2.28 ERA) for Monday’s affair.