The Sacramento A’s IL is growing as left fielder grabs his leg after colliding into the left field fence while sliding trying to make the catch on Detroit Tigers Zach McKintry’s fly ball in foul ground in the third inning at Comerica Park in Detroit (AP News photo)

Tigers Finish A’s 4-1 for Yet Another Series Loss

By Mauricio Segura

Three swings was all it took for the Detroit Tigers to run away with a series win against the injury-plagued Sacramento Athletics.

The Tigers beat the Athletics 4-1, completing a three-game sweep and handing the Green and Gold their sixth straight loss. The A’s dropped to 41-52 after losing 10 of their last 11 and 14 of 17, while Detroit won for the eighth time in nine games. Framber Valdez did most of the heavy lifting from the mound, holding the Athletics to one run on three hits over seven innings, striking out nine without issuing a walk.

The Athletics tried a different pitching formula, using José Suárez as an opener one day after he threw two scoreless innings in relief. It was a rare assignment. Over the previous 44 years, the only A’s pitcher to start after throwing at least two innings the day before was Liam Hendriks in 2019. Suárez handled the unusual job well, retiring all three batters he faced in the first, including two flyouts after a leadoff strikeout.

Jack Perkins took over in the second and matched Valdez for an inning before Jake Rogers broke the scoreless tie in the third with a solo homer to left. The Athletics had almost nothing going against Valdez early. Through four innings, Shea Langeliers reaching on a hit-by-pitch was their only baserunner.

The fifth finally gave the A’s an opening. Jacob Wilson singled to left and Lawrence Butler was hit by a pitch. Colby Thomas moved Wilson to third with a fly ball, and Henry Bolte brought him home on a force play. The run tied the game 1-1, but the tie lasted only a few minutes.

Kerry Carpenter drew a leadoff walk in the bottom half, and Zach McKinstry followed with a two-run homer to right-center. Perkins’ outing ended after three innings of bulk work, with three runs allowed on two hits, one walk and three strikeouts. Luis Medina then steadied the game, getting five outs without allowing a run, but the Tigers found another homer against Hogan Harris in the seventh.

That one came with a wonderful twist for Detroit. Eduardo Valencia pinch-hit for Carpenter and homered to center, giving the Tigers a 4-1 lead. It was the final run of the game and another example of how quickly Detroit turned a quiet inning into damage.

The Athletics had chances to make the score closer, but Valdez kept ending rallies before they could grow. Langeliers and Jonah Heim hit back-to-back singles with two outs in the sixth, only for Valdez to strike out Wilson on a foul tip. In the eighth, Jeff McNeil singled off Kyle Finnegan, but Joshua Kuroda-Grauer grounded into a double play and Nick Kurtz struck out.

Kuroda-Grauer entered the game as one of the hottest hitters on the roster, batting .500 with 15 hits through his first eight Major League games. Only Mitchell Page, with 16 hits in 1977, had more hits over the first eight games of an Athletics career. The rookie went 0-for-4, ending a six-game hitting streak.

There was still one last chance in the ninth. Langeliers drew a leadoff walk from Kenley Jansen, and after Heim struck out, Wilson singled to right to put runners at the corners. Butler then lined out to shortstop Zach McKinstry, and pinch-hitter Tyler Soderstrom lined out to first baseman Spencer Torkelson to end it.

The final numbers told the story without much translation: one run, five hits and 11 strikeouts for the A’s. Detroit scored all four of its runs on homers, and Valdez gave the Tigers seven innings of control. The Athletics now leave Detroit with a six-game skid and one series remaining before the All-Star break.

The road trip continues in Chicago, where Sacramento’s LHP Aaron Civale (4-3 ERA 7.04) is expected to face White Sox right-hander Sean Burke(5-4 ERA 3.56), with first pitch scheduled for 4:40 p.m. Pacific.

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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