Sacramento A’s pitcher Jacob Lopez pitches against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis on Fri Apr 25, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Mauricio Segura

The Sacramento Athletics scored twice, collected five hits, and made both runs stand up in a 2-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins. This was not an offensive showcase. It was a nine-inning exercise in surviving trouble, turning ground balls into outs, and making Minnesota regret every missed chance.

Jacob Lopez set the tone with five scoreless innings, allowing only one hit while striking out four. His command wandered at times, resulting in four walks and a hit batter, but the Twins never found the swing that could turn traffic into damage.

Lopez struck out Ryan Jeffers to strand two runners in the third, then escaped an even tighter spot in the fourth after Royce Lewis stole second and third and Luke Keaschall stole second. Brooks Lee ended that threat with a popout to Jacob Wilson.

Minnesota’s only hit against Lopez was in the fifth, when Austin Martin sent a ground-rule double down the left-field line. Byron Buxton followed with a liner to Tyler Soderstrom, and Jeffers flied out to Lawrence Butler. Lopez finished his outing with another zero and improved to 5-4, providing a major lift for a rotation that had gone 3-15 with a 6.42 ERA over its previous 27 games.

Twins starter Zebby Matthews was nearly untouchable early, retiring the first 10 Athletics he faced. Soderstrom finally reached with a fourth-inning walk, though Shea Langeliers erased that chance with a double play. The breakthrough developed in the fifth. Donovan Walton drew a walk, rookie Tommy White drove a double to center, and Jeff McNeil drew another walk to load the bases. Butler lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Walton for a 1-0 lead. White later tried to score on a wild pitch but was cut down at home.

The Athletics added their second run in the sixth with a simple three-batter sequence. Henry Bolte singled, Wilson moved him to second with a groundout, and Soderstrom sent a ground ball through the left side to bring Bolte home. Soderstrom had entered the series batting .294 with three home runs and seven RBI in 10 games since returning from a hip injury, and his run-scoring single gave the pitching staff a little more room to work.

That room became valuable immediately. Geoff Hartlieb began the bottom of the sixth by issuing walks to Josh Bell and Lewis. A wild pitch advanced both runners, and another walk to Keaschall loaded the bases with one out. José Suarez entered and needed only one batter to escape. Lee hit a grounder to Tommy White, who stepped on third and threw to first for an inning-ending double play.

From there, the Athletics turned the infield into a roadblock. Suarez retired the Twins in order in the seventh, with all three grounders going from Wilson to McNeil. Elvis Alvarado allowed a leadoff single to Jeffers in the eighth, then got Bell to bounce into another double play. Wilson handled that one as well, extending his errorless streak to 103 games, seven shy of Mike Bordick’s major-league record for a shortstop.

Hogan Harris handled the ninth. He struck out Victor Caratini, hit Keaschall with a pitch, then fielded Lee’s grounder and started a game-ending double play. Harris earned his eighth save, and the Athletics completed a shutout with four scoreless innings from the bullpen.

The win extended the Athletics’ streak against Minnesota to five games and gave them four consecutive victories in Minnesota. The A’s now have a chance to claim their first series victory in 11 tries.

Game 2 brings right-hander Mason Barnett (1-0, 4.64 ERA, 21 strikeouts) against Twins left-hander Connor Prielipp (2-5, 5.00 ERA, 71 strikeouts), with first pitch scheduled for 4:10 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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