Tough Call Goes Against A's in Loss to Milwaukee Brewers

After putting runners on base all night against Milwaukee Brewers pitchers, the A's finally had their chance in the top of the ninth.

After Gio Urshela grounded out to begin the frame, Max Muncy and Lawrence Butler drew walks to put two on with the A's down 5-1. Brent Rooker laced a double in the left-center gap, scoring Muncy and pushing Butler to third.

With one away and two runners in scoring position, the MLB leader in home runs, Tyler Soderstrom, stepped into the box to face new pitcher Trevor Megill. The A's first baseman went up hacking, taking the first pitch he saw, a knuckle curve, to left field. It ended up being a sac-fly, deep enough to score Butler and bring the tying run to the dish with two down.

Catcher Shea Langeliers stepped into the box with a chance to play the hero.

With the count at 1-1, a pitch off the plate away was called a strike, and it was a game-changing call. Instead of being up 2-1 in the count, firmly in control of the at-bat, Langeliers and the A's were all of a sudden down to their final strike.

He would end up checking his swing on a curve in the dirt, yet still making contact. The ball went two feet, and catcher William Contreras picked the ball up and fired to first, ending the game.

Obviously it's tough to lose a game where there was a blatantly obvious missed call right before the game ends, but what you hear from winning teams consistently in those situations is that the game shouldn't have gotten to that point. Moving forward, the A's will have to keep the game out of the umpire's hands.

The A's left ten runners on base throughout Friday night's contest, and a couple of key hits in any of those situations would have changed the game completely.

That said, the spot that this ball was called was where starter J.T. Ginn was living in the early innings, and none of those pitches were called strikes. For this pitch, that had consistently been called a ball all game to all of a sudden get a different call when the game is on the line is sure to make some guys upset.

Ginn ended up going 4.2 innings, giving up four hits, three runs, and two walks while striking out seven. After cruising through the first two frames, he ran into trouble in the third.

Caleb Durbin, who was making his MLB debut, hit a shot to left in his first at-bat that landed just foul. He was mere feet from beginning his career with a solo home run. He regrouped, then hit a slow grounder to third and booked it to first. His speed earned him his first big-league hit, which was also Milwaukee's first of the game.

Jackson Chourio doubled home a run two batters later, and Christian Yelich brought him home with a single of his own, putting the Brewers up 2-0.

Milwaukee would add on in the fifth after Ginn retired the first two that he faced. Then, Brice Turang singled and stole second, which was followed by a walk to Chourio. It was at this point that A's manager Mark Kotsay went to the bullpen, replacing Ginn with the recently called up lefty, Jacob Lopez.

Lopez would give up a single to Yelich, scoring Turang, and making it 3-0 before ending the inning.

After working a scoreless sixth, Lopez began the seventh by giving up a single to Durbin that dropped out of Miguel Andujar's glove in left. Turang laid down a sac-bunt to advance the runner, but Lopez bobbled it, and Turang blazed his way on base.

Kotsay would again go to the 'pen, this time going to Justin Sterner. Both runners would come around the score in the inning, which is the first time during the regular season that a runner has crossed home plate while Sterner has been on the mound. Both runs were unearned.

Freddy Peralta was great for Milwaukee over five scoreless frames for the home team, walking one and striking out five, but the A's certainly had some chances against the Brewers' ace. In both the third and fourth innings, the Athletics had two-on with one away, but came away empty handed.

The green and gold would score their first run of the game in the sixth, after JJ Bleday drew a leadoff walk against Nick Mears, who had just entered the game out of the bullpen. A wild pitch moved him to second with one down, and an Andujar single pushed him to third.

Urshela grounded to third, and instead of going for the lead runner, Durbin went for the inning-ending double play and fired to second. Urshela ended up just beating the throw to first, and the A's recorded their first run, making it 3-1 at the time.

One bright spot was that José Leclerc worked his best inning of relief this season, with zeroes across the board. Technically he worked a clean first inning of work against the New York Mets last Friday, but he also returned to the mound for a second inning, and ended up giving up a solo home run to Pete Alonso.

After facing the team that drafted him in his first big-league outing of 2025, J.T. Ginn's velocity was noticeably down in Milwaukee. He was sitting 93.5 miles per hour with his sinker, down 1.3 mph, and his max velocity on the offering was 95.3. His max velo on that pitch last Saturday was 97.3, so Friday saw a full two mile per hour dip.

That said, the 97.3 mph sinker was against Alonso in the first inning last weekend. He touched 96 just one more time--against Francisco Lindor in the third--the rest of the game. The velo drop is likely more about not facing the Mets specifically this time out.

Game two of the series will be on Saturday, with Luis Severino (0-3, 4.01 ERA) taking on former A's prospect Chad Patrick (1-0, 1.76). First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. (PT).