WEST SACRAMENTO - The Athletics had one of those nights where the final score barely tells the whole story, and Monday’s 9-6 loss to the Twins was exactly that kind of mess.
Down seven runs heading into the bottom of the ninth at Sutter Health Park, the A’s suddenly turned the game into something uncomfortable for Minnesota. Jeff McNeil, Zack Gelof and Lawrence Butler each delivered two-out RBI doubles, slicing the deficit to three and briefly putting a charge into a comeback that looked dead a few minutes earlier. But Tommy White’s lineout ended it, and the A’s were left with another loss after a rally that came up just short.
Even in defeat, Henry Bolte kept forcing his way into the conversation.
The A’s center fielder added three more hits Monday and reached base four times, extending what has become a monster August. Bolte is now hitting .345/.406/.494 for the month, and among qualified Major League rookies in August he sits first in hits with 30, second in batting average and on-base percentage, and third in OPS and slugging.
That 30-hit total is notable for another reason: it matches Zack Gelof’s August 2023 total, and Gelof went on to win AL Rookie of the Month.
Bolte’s production is starting to look like more than a hot stretch. Through 89 career Major League games, he is hitting .276/.352/.374 with 17 extra-base hits and 14 stolen bases. For an A’s team spending this final stretch on development, he’s making a clear case that he belongs in the club’s young core well beyond 2026.
“He’s put together a great month,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said of Bolte. “This is a 23-year-old outfielder that probably got here a little bit sooner than we anticipated.
If you look at his Minor League numbers, what he’s doing in the big leagues right now is pretty solid. If you just double the production based on the amount of at-bats, I’d say those numbers would more than suffice to contribute to this club this year.
“He’s still got a full month left to continue to gain this experience and continue to make improvements on his overall game, which is exciting.”
The bigger problem, as it so often has been, was the bullpen.
Jeffrey Springs left after getting two outs in the fifth with the A’s down three, and Hayden Juenger got the final out of the inning by stranding runners at the corners. But the sixth got away from Juenger, who allowed three runs. Kade Morris then gave up two more in the eighth, and the game slipped out of reach long before the ninth-inning flurry.
“[The bullpen] is an area of the game where we’re trying to find guys that can hold the game where it’s at,” Kotsay said. “That’s the progress we need to make to give our offense the chance to get back in the game.
I like the fight we showed in the ninth inning. We just fell short.”
Morris, the A’s No. 14 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, did show a few encouraging signs in his 2 2/3 innings. His changeup generated four of his seven total whiffs, per Statcast. But the outing still came with the kind of execution issues that have dogged this group.
“He’s figuring it out right now with the sinker and the changeup against lefties,” Kotsay said of Morris. “He has to execute those pitches and find something he can get those guys out with.
… He’s got weapons. He has to execute those weapons to the bottom of the zone.
… There’s definitely a learning curve for all of these guys that come up here, especially when they haven’t had a ton of experience in the Minor Leagues.”
The loss also kept the A’s stuck in a long stretch of frustration. They are 11-39 since June 26, and they still haven’t won more than two in a row since their four-game run from June 9-13.
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The move did not come without a cost, because Oakland had to open a spot on its 40-man roster to make the claim work. That shuffle sent shortstop Jacob Wilson to the 60-day injured list, a reminder that even a seemingly straightforward waiver pickup can ripple through a roster in a hurry for a club trying to keep depth intact. [Read more 🡒]