The Athletics left this series with the same problem that keeps following them around: one good start, then everything else starts to crack.
Jacob Lopez gave them exactly what a team needs in a Game 1 loss, working 7.0 innings and allowing just two runs. When he exited, the Athletics were sitting on a comfortable 6-2 lead.
Then the eighth inning arrived, and the whole thing fell apart. Jose Suarez and Seth Johnson were charged with eight earned runs as the bullpen turned a solid night into another ugly result.
That kind of collapse fit the larger picture of the series. The Athletics were then blasted in Games 2 and 3, with Mason Barnett struggling through 4.0 innings, allowing five runs and five hits, and Jack Perkins taking the worst of it on Wednesday. Perkins lasted 5.0 innings, gave up 12 hits, and allowed six of the eight runs scored by the Rays.
The bullpen’s inconsistency has been a season-long issue, and the numbers back it up. As a group, the Athletics are dead last in MLB in ERA. In this series, the relief corps helped bury them in the opener and again in the loss on Tuesday, while Game 3 turned into a mess almost from the start.
There were still a few individual bright spots, even if the larger outlook remains bleak. With Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers out for the season and the club 27 games under .500, a full turnaround is no longer in the cards. But the roster still has some talent to work with, including Tyler Soderstrom, Jacob Wilson, Lawrence Butler, and Jeff McNeil.
The clearest name on that list right now is Zack Gelof. He has become one of the few real reasons to look ahead.
Gelof is batting .280, which leads Athletics hitters with at least 200 at-bats, and he also owns a .833 OPS, second on the team, along with 13 home runs, which ranks fourth. He kept swinging well in this series too, batting .417 with two home runs and three RBIs.
For the Athletics, the message from this sweep was hard to miss: there is talent here, but not enough stability to put it together. And until the pitching changes, especially in the rotation and the bullpen, the losses are going to keep piling up.
In Other News...
As Infield Picture Just Got Murkier After Latest Roster Shuffle
The infield depth chart took another turn this week when the Athletics outrighted Jonathan Ornelas to Triple-A Las Vegas, a move that followed Zack Gelofs return from injury and pushed one more name off the big-league roster. Ornelas had spent only a brief time in Oakland this season, appearing in six major league games, but his path through the organization has been a familiar one for a player bouncing between opportunities and roster pressure.
For Ornelas, the transaction also carried an important procedural wrinkle: it was his second career outright, which gives him the ability to elect free agency. He has hit .200 in the majors overall and has been productive at Triple-A this year, so the Athletics still have a useful depth option in the system either way. What happens next will say plenty about how the club wants to sort out the infield mix behind Gelof. [Read more 🡒]
A's Bullpen Desperation Could Turn Two Overlooked Arms Into Key Pieces
The Athletics have spent much of this season trying to patch together a roster that has taken hit after hit, with Brent Rooker and Shea Langeliers both lost for the rest of 2026. In that kind of year, the margins matter, and the bullpen has become one of the places where Oakland has had to keep searching for help wherever it can find it.
Scott Blewett and Drew Rom are the latest arms to get that chance. Blewett, a right-hander, and Rom, a left-hander, have each posted promising numbers in limited innings this season, and the As are hoping those flashes can translate into more meaningful work in Oakland. For a club this short on stability, even overlooked relievers can quickly turn into important pieces if they can handle the next step. [Read more 🡒]