PHILADELPHIA -- Jeffrey Springs handed the ball to Athletics manager Mark Kotsay during the sixth inning and walked off the mound at Citizens Bank Park holding a one-run lead.
Two innings later, the A’s were trailing by three.
This is a scenario that has played out far too often for the A’s this season, continuing on Wednesday night as they lost another late lead and fell to the Phillies, 6-3.
Even with Wednesday’s loss, the A’s (18-18) remain atop the American League West standings. This defeat, however, highlighted what could be a hindrance to their playoff goals in 2026 if they can’t sort out their bullpen woes.
On this night, the A’s went down with Jack Perkins, who has emerged as arguably Kotsay’s most trusted reliever in high-leverage spots. Inheriting a one-run lead, Perkins worked a scoreless seventh. Going back out for the eighth, though, brought trouble.
Following a leadoff walk to Kyle Schwarber, Perkins induced a grounder on Bryce Harper that had the look of a potential double-play ball until Jeff McNeil fired an errant throw to Jacob Wilson at second that rolled into left field.
That error proved costly. From there, Perkins allowed back-to-back singles to Adolis García and Edmundo Sosa, who drove in two with his go-ahead single. Hogan Harris replaced Perkins with one out and eventually ended the inning, but not before an RBI single by Brandon Marsh and a run-scoring groundout by Justin Crawford capped a four-run eighth to flip the score from 3-2 to 6-3.
It was the first blown save for Perkins, who had converted each of his first three save opportunities of the year.
“The leadoff walk, obviously, you’ve got two of the best hitters in the league back-to-back,” Kotsay said. “Walking Schwarber, then getting a ground ball with Harper and not getting an out really put [Perkins] behind the eight ball. He tried to make better pitches as the inning went on and left some balls out and over in the García at-bat. You tip your cap to Sosa. He fouled off some balls that were way out of the zone. … We couldn’t finish the game.”
The A’s have left several wins on the table due to not being able to finish games. The bullpen’s 10 blown saves is now tied for most in the Majors, and the 73 runs allowed by A’s relievers in the seventh or later are second-most among all MLB relief corps.
On Wednesday, Springs was efficient through five innings of one-run ball before allowing a solo homer to García with one out in the sixth. He was pulled at 75 pitches after an infield single by Sosa one batter later, and while Justin Sterner retired the next two batters in relief, the question had to be asked: Why not let Springs try to finish the sixth and perhaps save Perkins for at least one more inning?
“[J.T.] Realmuto had seen [Springs] twice and gotten two hits,” Kotsay said. “Tying run at first base and go-ahead run at the plate, I felt like [Springs] did his job well enough to hand the ball over to Sterner and get out of that inning.”
This is the downside of the A’s closer-by-committee approach. In close games, Kotsay has to mix and match which relievers present the best chance to finish games on a given night. The result has been an up-and-down performance.
After a slow start, the bullpen seemed to be finding its stride midway through April with a stretch in which relievers combined to allow just 10 runs in 10 games from April 19-30. Over their last five games, however, the A’s bullpen has yielded 23 runs (21 earned) in 17 innings pitched.
How do the A’s stabilize these bullpen issues? They’ve been searching for upgrades within their system. On Wednesday, they reached down to Triple-A to call up right-hander Brooks Kriske, who posted a 2.25 ERA in 10 games with 25 strikeouts across 16 innings for Las Vegas.
Ultimately, it’s likely going to require more consistency from those relievers who have flashed potential as late-inning arms, such as Perkins, Harris, Joel Kuhnel and Scott Barlow.
“You’re going to have stretches where you just don’t get outs and you have to find a way to navigate those innings and still believe and build confidence in these guys,” Kotsay said. “I still have confidence in the bullpen and the job they’re going to do.”