MINNEAPOLIS -- Jeffrey Springs' frustrating season continued on Sunday as the Athletics' left-hander had to abandon his start against the Twins in the second inning due to right hip discomfort. The Athletics went on to lose, 11-8, dropping two of three to Minnesota over the weekend.
After allowing three runs in the first inning, Springs gave up a leadoff single to Alex Jackson and walked Brooks Lee to begin the second. Ryan Kreidler was retired on a line drive to left field for the first out, but after throwing two pitches to Austin Martin, Springs motioned for someone in the dugout to come to the mound.
“The muscles were really tightening up on him, and he didn't feel like he would be able to finish that inning,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “He wanted to go through it, but obviously, at risk of injuring the hip further, any situation like that you're going to get the player out.”
After consulting with Kotsay and Athletics head trainer Jeff Collins, Springs headed to the dugout without even testing the injury by tossing any warmup pitches. He was relieved by Luis Morales, who completed Martin’s at-bat by walking him.
The Athletics hoped the 33-year-old Springs would be an anchor of their rotation this season after he went 11-11 with a 4.11 ERA in 2025. But after winning his first three decisions of '16, Springs has gone 0-10 with a 7.71 ERA over his next 17 starts, through Sunday's abbreviated outing.
Springs’ injury was just part of a long and in many ways painful day for the Athletics, who committed four errors and suffered a number of bad breaks along the way. The day began with a report that All-Star catcher Shea Langeliers might be out for the rest of the season. That’s bad enough -- but it went downhill from there.
A heatwave swept into the Upper Midwest over the weekend, leaving the teams playing in temperatures that climbed into the upper 90s, with feels-like conditions reaching triple digits.
The Twins’ bats started the game just as hot as they scored three runs on three hits in the first inning. The third run scored when Kody Clemens tripled and Alika Williams’ relay throw bounced off the runner and rolled out of play.
“That's on Jeff for not being back there,” Kotsay said of Springs not backing up the throw. “And he obviously knows that. That's frustration, and it leads to another run there.”
After Springs left in the second, Morales almost got out of the inning unscathed as Byron Buxton lined out with the bases loaded for the second out. But Morales then committed a balk that brought home a run and led to the ejection of assistant hitting coach Chris Cron for arguing the call. Ryan Jeffers followed with a two-run single and suddenly it was 6-0 Twins after two innings.
"With the balk, I'm not sure what happened there,” Kotsay said. “He declared the first hitter. I felt like immediately when he caught the ball, he declared again. Obviously, they didn't see it that way.”
Williams bobbled a grounder in the third that didn’t lead to any runs. In the fourth, Ryan Kreidler stole third base and trotted home when catcher Jonah Heim’s throw sailed into left field. And Tyler Soderstrom uncharacteristically dropped a fly ball in left field in the sixth inning.
“It was just one of those days,” said Kotsay, who lauded his team for not giving up despite the circumstances stacking up against them. The Athletics got a three-run homer in the sixth from Nick Kurtz, which broke an 0-for-25 stretch for the young slugger and was just his second long ball of July. They added three more runs in the seventh courtesy of a bases-loaded walk and two run-producing outs.
Finally, trailing by five runs in the ninth, they got singles from Tommy White, Donovan Walton and Jeff McNeil to score a run. Carlos Cortes beat out a potential game-ending double play ball to bring home another run, but Jacob Wilson grounded out to end the game with Kurtz representing the tying run in the on-deck circle.
“These guys, they showed the fight today that we're looking for from an offensive standpoint,” Kotsay said.