WEST SACRAMENTO — The Tigers may have held the best record in the American League entering this series, but the Athletics have been the AL’s best team over the past month, and they continued showing why.
A 7-0 victory over the Tigers on Wednesday at Sutter Health Park punctuated an impressive three-game sweep in what felt like somewhat of a coming of age for this young and talented A’s squad, which maintains the second-best record in MLB (21-10) since July 24, only slightly trailing the Brewers (22-10) over that span.
“Great series,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “We continue to improve. That’s the right direction we wanted to be going in to finish this thing, and there’s still some big series in front of us.”
The transformation began a month ago in Houston. Nick Kurtz garnered the headlines with his historic four-homer performance on July 25. That entire series, however, marked a turnaround. The A’s pulled off a stunning four-game sweep of the first-place Astros, sparking a run that has seen them win seven of their last 10 series to move out of the AL West cellar, now percentage points ahead of the Angels (62-71) for fourth place at 63-72.
Wednesday’s win highlighted everything that has led to this successful stretch.
Pitching has been on point, the overall staff entering the night with the third-lowest ERA (3.40) in the Majors since July 24. Wednesday was No. 4 prospect Luis Morales‘ time to shine. The right-hander dazzled across seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts to pick up his second Major League win in just his fourth career start.
The frontline stuff possessed by Morales shows more and more with each outing. He efficiently navigated a powerful Detroit lineup at just 91 pitches through seven innings, allowing just two hits and two walks.
When there was hard contact against him, Morales’ defense backed him up with a few highlight-reel plays.
Of note were a leaping grab by Zack Gelof at second base on a liner by Zach McKinstry to end the top of the second with a runner stranded on third and Lawrence Butler’s diving catch to rob McKinstry of a hit for the final out of the seventh.
Morales is also rising to the level of his competition. Over his last two starts, the 22-year-old rookie has allowed one run on four hits and two walks with 13 strikeouts in 13 innings pitched against the Mariners and Tigers, a pair of playoff-contending clubs.
“This kid continues to impress,” Kotsay said. “He continues to get better and better. Give a lot of credit to our pitching coach Scott Emerson and our bullpen coach Dan Hubbs. They’ve been really working with this kid. He’s relentless on just perfecting his mechanics.”
An offense that entered with the third-most runs (169) in MLB since July 24 — most of that thump provided by the core four of Kurtz, Shea Langeliers, Brent Rooker and Tyler Soderstrom — was fueled by another source on Wednesday in Gelof.
Hitless in his first two games since returning from Triple-A Las Vegas, Gelof busted out in a major way: He clubbed his first home run of the season, a two-run blast to left-center off Casey Mize in the second, later belting a two-run double in the eighth to match a career high with four RBIs.
“Great night for Zack,” Kotsay said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the kid. His first two games up here weren’t great, but he continued to work and stay with the process. … He was a big part of this win.”
September will see the A’s play 15 games against current playoff-contending teams in the Red Sox, Reds, Astros and Royals, all of whom will have a heightened sense of urgency to win. A strong showing in that final month, particularly against those clubs, is what can generate the exact type of momentum they’d like to carry into the offseason and on to 2026.
“I would love to be in that situation of being in the lead of a division next year,” Gelof said. “I feel like we’re a tight-knit team. It starts right now with this group.”
