WEST SACRAMENTO -- The Athletics made things interesting late for a second consecutive night after falling behind early against the Orioles before ultimately coming up short on Saturday night in a 5-3 loss at Sutter Health Park.
Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s defeat:
1. Perkins makes progress
Jack Perkins has shown flashes of his potential this season, but there’s no sugarcoating the overall numbers he’s posted to this point. Entering Saturday, his 8.17 ERA in 11 starts was second-highest among 157 pitchers with at least 50 innings as a starter.
After following an opener his previous two times out as a means of getting an easier entry point into games, Perkins got a chance to make a traditional start again on Saturday night and the result was encouraging, as he limited Baltimore to two runs (one earned) on four hits and four walks with five strikeouts across five innings.
The walk total was too high, with Perkins deeming his four free passes as “unacceptable,” especially given that three were issued to the leadoff hitter of an inning. Despite that, he kept his pitch count somewhat economical as he exited with just 80 pitches.
“Five innings and two runs was a big improvement from his previous outings when he was starting,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “If we can build on that and continue to make improvements, there’s room to grow there.”
Perkins said he took the outings following an opener as a developmental lesson, pointing out his struggles in the past over the first couple of innings when starting games. This time around, he worked a scoreless first two frames before allowing his first run in the third on a ground-rule double by Leody Taveras in the third, an inning that began with a leadoff walk. Other than that, his only blemish was a solo homer by Colton Cowser to lead off the fifth.
There were some things to like about Perkins. He generated 13 total whiffs, including seven on his sweeper. There were also things to work on, mainly the walks to create traffic on the bases early in innings. Overall, he’s now allowed one earned run or fewer in his past three outings, giving him some momentum as he enters the final month of the season.
“It was good to get back out there in the first and kind of set the tone myself,” Perkins said. “I threw the ball well outside of the walks. … I can deal with walks, especially if it’s later in the inning and you have one or two outs. But when you put the first guy of the inning on, it makes it a little more difficult. I’m doing a great job of limiting the hits and hard contact right now. The next step is just getting back to attacking and not letting those free passes happen.”
2. Medina finding his groove
After missing all of 2025 due to Tommy John surgery, Luis Medina has gone through his ups and downs in his first season back from injury. Over the past month, he’s starting to discover himself in the A’s bullpen.
Following an electric scoreless inning on Saturday in which he revved up his fastball to 99.2 mph and struck out two, Medina has now recorded scoreless outings in 10 of his 11 appearances this month.
The A’s always believed Medina had the arsenal to thrive as a high-leverage reliever. Now, the results are starting to back that up.
“For him not to have pitched for two years, the start of the season was basically him just kind of reintroducing himself to the mound and being in competition,” Kotsay said. “It takes a while to get that feeling back. You’re seeing a confidence that we hadn’t seen. The outings are stacking up. Hopefully, the finish to the season is building confidence going into next season that he knows he can be a dominant reliever.”
3. Roycroft’s strong debut
Seeking to improve a struggling bullpen, the A’s have made several waiver claims on relievers this season in hopes of striking gold. The latest in that process is Chris Roycroft, who had an impressive debut outing on Saturday with a perfect eighth capped by a strikeout of Coby Mayo on a 96.9 mph fastball.
“He did excellent,” Kotsay said. “We made a little adjustment with him. I saw a real confident kid coming off the mound. If we can continue forward with him with his mix, he’s got big stuff that will play.”