Athletics come up short in 4-2 loss to Dodgers

Kyle Muller allowed one run in two innings during his spring debut.

The Oakland Athletics again struggled to generate much offense in a 4-2 loss Sunday to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Kyle Muller got the start for the Athletics on Sunday. It is an important spring for Muller, who is out of options and will need to make the Opening Day roster. His afternoon got off to a good start with a ground out of Manuel Margot and a strikeout of Freddie Freeman. A walk to Will Smith and a single by Chris Taylor put runners at first and second and a passed ball moved them into scoring position. However, Muller recovered and got Max Muncy looking to end the inning.

Muller returned in the second and retired the first two hitters in the inning before James Outman took him deep to right for a solo home run. He would exit at the end of the inning having allowed two hits, a walk and one run to go along with three strikeouts in two innings.

The Dodgers struck again in the fourth against Francisco Perez who walked Taylor to start the inning. Muncy made that hurt as he followed with a two-run shot to make it 3-0. Los Angeles tacked on another run in the sixth with a run-scoring single by Travis Swaggerty off A’s reliever Vinny Nittoli.

The A’s finally broke through offensively in the seventh. 2023 first round pick Jacob Wilson singled to right and then came all the way around to score on a double by Hoy Park. Park advanced to third on a fly out by Armando Alvarez and then scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-2.

Zack Gelof doubled and struck out twice in three plate appearances. Daz Cameron and Miguel Andujar finished with one hit each. Darell Hernaiz started the game at shortstop and was 0-for-2.

Game Notes

• Dany Jimenez retired the side in order in the third with three fly outs.
• Brett Harris made his spring debut and went 0-for-2 at the plate, including a sharp line out to center in the ninth.
• Brady Basso struck out one in a scoreless eighth for the Athletics.
• Jake Gelof, Zack’s brother, entered the game for the Dodgers in the eighth inning and struck out in his only plate appearance.