A’s Win! Homers Power Athletics Past Twins 14-3

Finally!

Well it happened, folks. The Athletics won a game. They snapped their nine-game losing streak in a big way on Thursday afternoon, avoiding the dreaded four-game sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins by clobbering them 14-3 to get the A’s back in the win column after over a week.

Early offense!

Desperation doesn’t describe how the team likely felt entering today’s contest. The A’s needed this one just for their sanity, and the bats seemed to feel that vibe from the outset of this contest.

Minnesota switched up their starter for the finale, turning to rookie David Festa after original starter Bailey Ober was pushed to Friday’s scheduled start. Making his fourth start of the season the A’s were all over the rookie from the jump. The first three A’s batters reached base, with an RBI knock from Brent Rooker opening up the scoring for the home team.

Not stopping there, rookie third baseman Max Muncy got in on the action when he blasted his second career home run, a 3-run shot that Muncy knew was gone right off the bat, providing a cheeky little bat flip to boot:

Muncy would add on another hit later in the game and though it’s only two games he looked much more comfortable than he did during the opening month of the season. If they can get him going as a possible third base option that would be a big win for this young club.

After seeing several leads disappear in recent weeks the Athletics knew they couldn’t let off the gas, not with eight innings to go. Enter Rookie of the Year favorite and likely first-time All-Star Jacob Wilson:

He’d finish the day 3-for-5 with an additional walk and is now second in all of baseball in hits behind only superhuman Aaron Judge. Not bad company to be in for a rookie.

The A’s just kept it up against Festa. Rooker followed Wilson’s homer with his second base knock of the game and first baseman Tyler Soderstrom followed him with the A’s third home run of the day to bust this game open for the home team:

That was Sodey’s 13th of the season, After leading the majors in homers at one point, Soderstrom’s power went missing as he hit just one home run over a 38-game stretch from April 18th to May 29th. He seems to have found his stroke again as he’s now gone yard four times in the last seven games.

But were they done there? Absolutely not. Seemingly trying to take out all their frustration from the past few weeks on one day, the A’s just kept pounding the Twins’ pitching. After their first two batters of the fourth were retired the next three A’s batters reached base via a couple walks and a single, bringing up Soderstrom again. And what did the lefty slugger do with the bases loaded? Oh I don’t know, how about a grand slam?!:

That dry spell probably doomed his chances but if Soderstrom gets as hot as he was in the first month of the season, could he squeek his way to an All-Star selection? Tall task with just over a month left until the break but stranger players have been chosen to be an All-Star.

Spence impressive in first start of the year

Second year pitcher Mitch Spence came into the season expecting to win a starting rotation job. The coaching staff had other plans however, instead sending a pitcher that made 24 starts for the club the previous year to the bullpen, a role he had little experience in. He didn’t whine, he didn’t complain to the media or his teammates or the coaches. All he did was put his head down and did what he was told. Over the first couple months of the season Spence has been both a setup man for Mason Miller and a long man when there’s a short outing from the starting pitcher.

Well the swiss army arm’s patience and perseverance paid off when he was finally given the ball for his first start of the 2025 season. He would be forgiven if he was trying to shake some of that starter’s rust off early but nope. Not from Spence. He looked like he never left the starting rotation, firing off five strong innings of one-run ball against the Twins while only allowing three hits and one walk compared to four strikeouts. The only run he allowed was a fourth-inning solo home run to Minnesota right fielder Matt Walner. Other than that he was an absolute life saver for the Athletics today, saving the bullpen from another long day while keeping the Twins’ bats in check.

• Mitch Spence: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 57 pitches

If he was already stretched out more the club would have surely let him keep pitching with the way the score was looking. He’s obviously not built all the way back up yet though after spending all season in the ‘pen. One thing is for certain: Spence earned another starting assignment after today’s impressive outing,

A’s add on, bullpen finishes the job

With the score now 11-1 through four innings it was now just a matter of getting to the end of the game. The A’s added on their 11th run thanks to an RBI single from Max Schuemann to bring in backup catcher Willie MacIver around from second to score. Left-hander Sean Newcomb took over for Spence for a couple frames, allowing a pair of meaningless runs in the seventh to cut into the lead. The A’s answered right back and got those two runs right back in the bottom half of the frame thanks to Rooker’s third hit of the day, a two-run double to put a little cherry on top of the win:

That was it from the Athletics’ offense today but it was enough. 14 runs, 17 hits, six walks, and four home runs. That’ll usually do it. Right-hander Michael Kelly entered the game in the seventh to make his season debut after returning from his year-long suspension and the 32-year-old looked like he never left, going 1 ¹⁄₃ innings with a walk and a pair of strikeouts. It’d be a nice boost for the bullpen if Kelly looks anything like he did last season. Flamethrower Mason Miller came on for the ninth for just his sixth appearance in the last 21 games and he finished the Twins off with a double play to officially put an end to that horrible losing streak.

A’s win! Celebrate! It was starting to get hard to remember what it felt like to get a victory at the ballpark. The A’s needed this one in the worst possible way and the frustrations from the past few weeks definitely came through in their performance this afternoon. The Athletics finally threw up their hands and put Mitch Spence back on the mound for a start and they were rewarded with a quality start that saved the bullpen. And that offense. What a show from the bats. It was an all-around quality showing from the A’s hitters as all starters collected at least one hit and six batters had multi-hit days. The A’s were hit with some less-than-exciting news when the A’s announced an MRI for catcher Shea Langeliers later today:

That’s not a good sign for the Athletics’ starting catcher and the depth behind him is thin at best if he requires an IL trip. We will let you know any updates but that’s not fun to think about right now. The A’s are back in the win column and now sit at 24-40, they avoid the four-game sweep to the Twins, won’t have their second double-digit losing streak, and now are set to begin their next series on a winning note.

That next series kicks off tomorrow evening back at Sutter Health Park when the A’s welcome the Baltimore Orioles to town for their first trip to Sacramento. The Athletics’ starters for the Baltimore series are still being figured out right now, but the O’s plan to march out right-hander Dean Kremer and his 4.70 ERA for the first game of the weekend series. Let’s keep the good times rolling and get a series win this weekend!