Jacob deGrom held the Athletics to one hit across seven scoreless innings Monday night, while Gage Jump struggled through 4 1/3 innings. Texas rolled to an 8-1 win at Globe Life Field, extending the A’s losing streak to four games.
Lawrence Butler supplied the only hit against deGrom and extended his hitting streak to nine games. However, the Athletics did not put another runner on base until Carlos Cortes singled to open the ninth.
deGrom shuts the door
Butler singled sharply to right to open the second inning, continuing his recent run at the plate. But Tommy White struck out before Max Muncy grounded into a double play.
From there, deGrom was nearly untouchable. He retired the final 18 batters he faced and finished seven innings with eight strikeouts and no walks.
The A’s managed only Butler’s single against him. Then Robby Ahlstrom worked a perfect eighth with two more strikeouts.
Texas carried a combined one-hitter into the ninth. Cortes finally broke through with a leadoff single against Ben Peoples, and Jonah Heim followed with his 16th double.
Darell Hernaiz brought Cortes home with a sacrifice fly. Still, the late run only trimmed the final margin to 8-1.
Jump falls behind early
Texas gave Jump trouble beginning in the second inning. Brandon Nimmo singled before Jake Burger doubled, and Elias Díaz followed with an RBI groundout.
Cody Freeman then singled home Burger to make it 2-0. Jump escaped further damage, but another run followed in the third when Nimmo singled home Corey Seager.
Next, Justin Foscue opened the fourth with his 10th homer. Texas stretched the lead to 4-0 and kept pressure on Jump an inning later.
Three more runs scored in the fifth. Nimmo delivered a sacrifice fly before Burger singled home Seager, and Evan Carter added an RBI forceout after Chris Roycroft entered.
Jump was charged with seven earned runs on six hits across 4 1/3 innings. He walked three, struck out two and threw two wild pitches.
Roycroft steadied things with 2 2/3 scoreless innings. However, Texas added its final run against José Suarez in the eighth on Freeman’s RBI single.
A difficult summer continues
The loss dropped the Athletics to 53-85 and into a tie with the Angels for last place in the AL West. Both clubs sit one full game ahead of Colorado, which owns MLB’s worst record at 52-86.
The defeat also continued a dramatic slide that began during the summer. The A’s were 38-40 and only 1½ games out of first place in the AL West on June 21.
Since then, they have gone 15-45 over their next 60 games. They enter September on pace to finish around 62-100.
The Athletics need to go at least 10-14 over their final 24 games to avoid 100 losses. A 100-loss season would be only the fourth for the franchise since it moved west in 1968.
The previous three came in 1979, 2022 and 2023.
Up next
The Athletics continue the series Tuesday at Globe Life Field. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. PT.
Left-hander Brady Basso is scheduled to start for the A’s against Rangers left-hander MacKenzie Gore.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Las Vegas Aces, 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.
