A's bullpen shines in series finale against Rangers

ARLINGTON -- The Athletics’ bullpen has been tested often this season, and it’s been acing those tests lately. But Sunday was a doozy of a pop quiz.

After starter J.T. Ginn’s unexpected departure -- he left due to a shoulder problem after only 3 1/3 innings, tying the second-shortest outing of the season for an Athletics starter -- the A’s needed five relievers to piece together 17 outs and escape with a 2-1 victory over the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

Over the past eight games, A’s relievers have posted a 1.48 ERA in 30 1/3 innings.

“Our bullpen’s been doing a good job,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “There’s a real confidence down there, when the phone rings, that it can be any one of them to come in and pitch. And I think that that environment down there has helped them succeed together.”

Justin Sterner earned his first win of the season with a lockdown performance in an ultra-high-leverage situation, and Jack Perkins tossed two scoreless innings at the end to collect his second save of the season. Joel Kuhnel, Jacob Lopez and Hogan Harris combined to contribute eight more important outs.

Though Perkins earned the save for finishing the Rangers off, Sterner’s stuff is what truly saved the A’s. Faced with three inherited runners and no outs in the sixth, the righty allowed an RBI sacrifice bunt but then notched two strikeouts and a flyout to avoid major damage.

“Sterner deserves a lot of credit today,” Perkins said. “Bases loaded, no outs, gets out of it. That just shifts the whole momentum. They had it, and then we gained it back, and then we just kind of rolled with it the rest of the game.”

The win Sunday clinched the three-game series for the A’s, who once again sit alone in first place in the American League West.

The bullpen has been a key reason why the Athletics have been able to hover near the top of the division standings for the past two-plus weeks.

“I just think we're getting on a roll,” Perkins said. “We’re all just doing our job really well. We're not getting overly pressured by any individual situation, we're just taking the ball when our name is called, and we're doing our job.”

The A’s have won four consecutive series on the road and nine of their last 11 road games.

“We're a playoff-caliber team, and I think we just continue to show that with the way we play,” Perkins said. “We're [a] very gritty team. We're young, but we're gritty. Not everything goes perfect and as smooth as we would like it at times, but we grind through it and we get the job done, and that's been the case lately.”

It was indeed a grind for the A’s to hold down the 2-0 lead they clung to when Ginn departed. Kuhnel recorded the final two outs of the fourth inning and Lopez had an uneventful fifth frame, but the Rangers loaded the bases and chased Lopez in the sixth.

That’s when Sterner was tasked with finding a way to wriggle out of trouble without giving up the lead. Though one of Lopez’s runners scored, Sterner stanched the jam quickly. He struck out Danny Jansen and Sam Haggerty, then got leadoff man Brandon Nimmo to fly out.

“That really was the game, in a sense,” Kotsay said.

Harris pitched a scoreless seventh and Perkins nailed down the win, blanking Texas in the eighth and ninth.

All told, the Athletics’ bullpen allowed seven baserunners, but kept six of them from scoring.

The A’s went ahead in the first inning, when Tyler Soderstrom and Brent Rooker drew back-to-back walks and Carlos Cortes tripled home both runners. The A’s never scored again despite plenty of chances, finishing 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

Among those missed opportunities, the A’s loaded the bases in the ninth with a single and two walks. One of those was an intentional walk to Nick Kurtz, who broke the franchise record with walks in 16 consecutive games. But the A’s left the bases loaded.

“Offensively, we just couldn't add on,” Kotsay said. “In a perfect world, you get a cushion.”

Imperfect as it was, the A’s bullpen didn’t need a cushion on Sunday.