Athletics finish Rangers off with 3-0 win

Taking three of four on the road? Yes please

The A’s finally got a quality outing from left-hander Jeffrey Springs and that propelled the A’s to victory on Thursday afternoon on the first day of May. The team wrapped up its 4-game series with the Texas Rangers by winning 3-0 and ultimately taking three of four from their division rivals to improve to 17-15.

Springs bounces back in a big way

As stated, Jeffrey Springs finally delivered a strong start for the Athletics after recent struggles pushed his season ERA to an ugly 6.04 mark. Over the game’s first five innings Texas only managed two base runners against the 32-year-old, a pair of singles from Wyatt Langford and former Athletic Marcus Semien. He came out of the gate looking like he was on a mission and he delivered for the A’s.

• Jeffrey Springs: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 68 pitches

Now that’s more like it. Springs finally got off to a good start today after struggling in the first two innings all year. That success built on itself and Springs had his best outing of the season to date. Not only was he dominant and kept Texas batters off balance all day, he was also economical on the mound as he was at just 60 pitches through the first five frames, ultimately finishing at just 68 on the day.

He dropped his ERA down to a still-high but much better looking 4.98 mark. He’ll look to keep dropping that number even lower in his next scheduled start against the Seattle Mariners, who he faced earlier this year and dominated for the team’s first win of the season.

Bats strike early against an ace

The Athletics weren’t having much better luck against Rangers starting pitcher Tyler Mahle. The right-handed Mahle entered today second in all of baseball with a nice and shiny 1.14 ERA through six starts so it wasn’t expected to be a cake walk for the offense. So it was a nice surprise to see the Athletics getting early contact against the longtime Reds hurler. A two-out rally in the first inning brought in a quick run for the Athletics, courtesy of a Miguel Andujar RBI single to bring home Tyler Soderstrom:

Today was Miguel Andujar’s first start at third base since 2021 when he started three games at the hot corner for the Yankees. He hasn’t been a regular third baseman since 2018 and he’s made just 12 starts at third in the majors since then. The team needs hit bat in the lineup one way or another and if third base is the only way to do it then we can expect to see him manning the position more in the coming days and weeks. The defense probably won’t be pretty but if he can continue to come through with key hits like today then he’ll make up for any mistakes in the field.

That was it from the offense in the first half as Mahle buckled down and only allowed three more singles during the rest of his outing, which lasted six full frames. Even with only one run allowed his ERA rose five points to 1.19 through seven starts. That would be enough to prevent him from getting his fourth win today in the finale.

Insurance for the Athletics

Clinging to a one-run lead the A’s were finally into the Texas bullpen and looking for a bit more breathing room. They began rallying almost right away as Nick Kurtz collected a one-out single and was pinch-run for by Max Schuemann. A walk put the runner in scoring position and shortstop Jacob Wilson cashed in with an RBI knock right up the middle to score the Athletics’ second run of the day:

That was his second hit of the day and he’s now hitting .331 as May begins, good for sixth in the league. The team would add on another run in the eighth off a sac fly from second baseman Luis Urias.

That gave the pitching some room for error but they didn’t need it. Right-handers Mitch Spence, TJ McFarland and Justin Sterner combined for two shutout innings to bridge the gap to closer Mason Miller. The flame throwing closer continued his hot start to the season as he nailed down the win for his 10th save of the year by striking out Marcus Semien to end the game.

That win puts the Athletics two games over .500 for the first time this year at 17-15. They came into Texas and took three of four from the Rangers and the team is still right in the thick of the playoff race as we turn the page on the calendar. Springs finally had a solid start for the team while the bats came through with some timely hits and productive outs. Now the team will head to Miami to continue the road trip and hopefully grow this mini winning streak against a struggling Marlins club.

The A’s have yet to announce an official starter but it’s likely to be right-hander Osvaldo Bido. Miami has also yet to announce a starting pitcher for tomorrow so stay tuned for an update there.