The regular season is upon us
The Athletics wrapped up their spring training schedule today, finishing out camp with a 8-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox. Now attention turns to Opening Day on Thursday in Seattle.
Facing a White Sox squad in the midst of their own rebuild, the A’s sent out lefty JP Sears for his final tune up start of the spring. Chicago scored a pair of early runs against Sears in the first inning before he settled down. The third-year pitcher only went three innings today, finishing up his spring with a 3.98 ERA over 20 1⁄3 frames. Next time we see him will be in Seattle to start the fourth game of the season.
The offense was quiet for much of the early part of today’s game. The Athletics managed to squeak across one run in the third to get on the board but that was all they could do against Chicago starting pitcher Davis Martin, who pitched five full innings against the A’s today.
After Sears exited the game to start the fourth, All-Star closer Mason Miller got into the game. Expectations are high for the flamethrower entering his second season but today was not his day. He allowed a pair of runs and couldn’t manage to finish his inning of work, yielding to right-hander Stevie Emanuels. The pitching change didn’t help as Chicago scored two more runs in the fourth to make it 6-1.
The A’s took their time but they did eventually start to rally. All of the regulars were pulled in the middle of the game so if the team was going to come back in this one, they’d need the young players to step up. They managed to load the bases in the top of the seventh but could only cash in one run, then they scored three more in the ninth to make this a close game. Unfortunately after loading the bases and putting the tying run on, the A’s rally finally ended with a strikeout to end the game and spring training.
The Athletics finish the spring at 17-14, not a bad showing from a team looking to take a step forward. The club now has the next couple of days off before beginning the regular season in Seattle against the Mariners for a 4-game set. The club had already announced that Luis Severino would be the Opening Day starter, squaring off against Seattle ace Logan Gilbert. The rest of the rotation lines up Jeffrey Springs for Game 2, Osvaldo Bido for Game 3, and then Sears for Game 4. That means young righty Joey Estes will start the first game at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento at the end of the month. So begins the official start of the Sacramento era.