The Athletics dropped both ends of their split-squad Saturday, including a 3-0 loss to the Angels in the Big League Weekend opener at Las Vegas Ballpark, where a crowd of 10,747 showed up for the club’s first spring game in Las Vegas. That pushed close to the ballpark’s listed seated capacity of 8,196 and not far off the venue record of 12,111 (set May 14, 2019, for an Aviators-Rainiers game).
Oakland also fell 4-3 to the Cubs at Sloan Park, turning a split-squad day into a two-loss afternoon.
Serven swings Cubs game, but late chance dies
In Mesa, the A’s actually had the cleaner offensive punch.
Andy Ibáñez doubled in the third, Brett Harris brought him home with a single and Brian Serven followed with a two-run homer to center to put Oakland up 3-2. That was the loudest swing of the game for Oakland, and for a moment it looked like enough.
Instead, the Cubs answered. Ian Happ tied it with a solo homer in the fifth, then Chicago grabbed the lead in the sixth on Pedro Ramirez’s sacrifice fly after Carson Kelly doubled.
Oakland still had one last shot. Leo De Vries walked in the ninth, then stole second and third. However, Jeff Brigham struck out Euribiel Angeles, Ryan Lasko and Clark Elliott to close it.
Vegas crowd, quiet bats
The bigger spotlight landed in Summerlin, but the A’s offense never really joined it.
Oakland managed six hits in the 3-0 loss to the Angels and went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Jacob Wilson doubled in the sixth, but the A’s could not cash it in.
The Angels broke through in the fourth on Oswald Peraza’s two-run double, then added another run in the fifth on Nick Madrigal’s RBI single. Gage Jump allowed one run in 3 2/3 innings, while Michael Kelly was charged with two more.
Up next
The A’s split up again Sunday as Big League Weekend wraps in Las Vegas. One squad faces the Reds at 1:05 p.m. PT, while the Las Vegas group gets another shot at the Angels at 1:05 p.m. PT.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
