A's Explosive Win in St. Louis was Impressive for This Reason
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Last week the A's played two very different series. In the first, they swept the Detroit Tigers, who came to West Sacramento with the best record in the American League. They followed that up with a sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers, though they did show plenty of fight late in Sunday's game.
Following their loss yesterday, they hopped on a plane and travelled to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals in an afternoon contest, though on the West Coast, it was an 11:15 a.m. (PT) start time. That's a fairly quick turnaround following a getaway game, at least on their internal clocks.
The A's sent 22-year-old Luis Morales to the mound for his fifth start in the big leagues (sixth game), and while he allowed multiple runs for the first time of his young career, he still fired 5 2/3 solid innings, giving up five hits and two earned runs, walking one and striking out eight. He was also taking on former A's ace Sonny Gray, in a battle of the team's past vs. its future.
The A's ended up winning this one handily, 11-2, and JJ Bleday got things started with a two-run homer in the fourth, which was immediately followed by a solo shot from Zack Gelof to give the A's a 3-0 lead. Bleday added a solo home run of his own in the sixth, while Gelof would end up 3-for-5 and a triple shy of the cycle.
A's continue to mash while missing two biggest bats
An 11-2 win is always a solid victory, but this one was particularly impressive for the green and gold. Yes, Morales continued to show that he has the tools to be a force in Major League Baseball, but the lineup was also missing two huge bats--Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers.
Kurtz was pulled from Friday night's game against Texas with right oblique soreness, and while an MRI came back clean with no strain on Saturday, he has yet to appear in a game since. The hope is that he'll be back sooner rather than later. Langeliers, who has been leading the A's offense along with Kurtz, was also sitting on Monday.
Since July 24 the A's are now 22-13, giving them the second-most wins in baseball in that span. Kurtz has been the best hitter in baseball during that stretch, sporting a 217 wRC+ (100 is league average), while Langeliers ranks No. 6 in all of baseball with a 168.
The two have been commonly slotted as the first two hitters in the A's lineup in recent weeks, so for the offense to still put up 11 without these two is no small feat.
Langeliers sits for second consecutive day
Langeliers was curiously missing from Monday's game. He took his regular rest day on Sunday, in a day game after a night game, but it's extremely rare for him to not play two games in a row. He's even received a handful of starts at DH this season to help keep his bat in the lineup. It could very well be nothing, but it's odd.
During Sunday's game there was one A's half inning that ended with catcher Willie MacIver in the on-deck circle, and what will typically happen is that the catcher that isn't playing that day will go out to warm up the pitcher for the following half-inning while the starting catcher puts all of their gear back on.
After this particular half-inning, however, it was coach Ramón Hernández, a former catcher, that warmed up the pitcher. Nothing has been disclosed, and this could just be a matter of trying to get Langeliers a little bit of actual rest on his off-day during the hottest game of the A's Sacramento schedule to date.
Perhaps having him sit these two games was more about them being during the day than anything. Langeliers is a workhorse behind the dish, and rarely misses a game. Playing in Sacramento this season comes with playing more consistently in warmer weather, which is bound to be more draining over the course of a full season.
He told us last year in Oakland that he'd never had to change his jersey mid-game due to sweat at the Coliseum. Perhaps the club is just taking a cautious approach with the team out of the postseason hunt while providing MacIver a chance to earn his spot for 2026.
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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