Elephant Rumblings: A’s riding consecutive series wins

MLB news roundup

Happy Friday, Athletics Nation!

Following a brutal 1-6 homestand to begin the 2024 season, the A’s have turned things around with a 4-2 road trip. They took two of three from a frisky Tigers team in Detroit, and then twice bested the defending world champion Texas Rangers through three contests in Arlington. Now we shall see if the A’s can carry this momentum and confidence back to the echo chamber that is the Oakland Coliseum, where the A’s begin their second homestand of the season tonight against the Washington Nationals.

One of the brighter spots on the roster has to be veteran starting pitcher Paul Blackburn, who is leading the way with a perfect 0.00 ERA after his first two starts. Blackburn is back on the bump tonight against righty Jake Irvin for the Nationals.

Blackburn’s rotation mate JP Sears had a rough go of his first two starts this season, but the lefty appears to be back on track in a big way after flirting with a no-no against the Rangers yesterday.

Perhaps most impressive of all the A’s arms belongs to Mason Miller, who appears to have emerged as the team’s closer after two dazzlingly successful save attempts in the Texas series. Miller is throwing harder than anyone else in the game right now. Here he is, owning superstar shortstop Corey Seager with an absolutely filthy 103 mph four-seamer.

Ay caramba!

As a fan, it’s nice to be heading into a weekend full of A’s baseball on high notes like these. Unfortunately, the A’s will need to continue making do without one of their best power bats: Brent Rooker was just beginning to break an early season slump when he came down with a costochondral cartilage injury and got placed on the IL. Taking Rooker’s spot for the time being is not the recently demoted Esteury Ruiz, but rather Max Schuemann. The 26-year-old utilityman could be making his MLB debut any day now. Kris Willis has more details on these latest roster moves.

Have a wonderful weekend, AN.

A’s Coverage:

• Athletics beat Rangers behind Sears’ gem 1-0
• Athletics place Brent Rooker on injured list, select contract of Max Schuemann
• Oakland Ballers sign Kelsie Whitmore, who would be first woman to play in Pioneer League ($)
• A’s Interim Home Sets Lofty Expectations

MLB News & Interest:

• Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, charged with bank fraud and stealing more than $16M ($)
• What Tommy John surgery looks like today: Revision surgeries, internal brace procedures ($)
• Rays Release Jake Odorizzi
• Jordan Montgomery Switches Agencies, Hires Wasserman
• Giants’ Alyssa Nakken ‘trying to figure this out’ as MLB’s first coach-slash-mom ($)
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Roster moves.

In fact, Miller has thrown the six fastest pitches in MLB this year per @CodifyBaseball

Wilson with a moonshot slam.

Similar arc, fewer runs.

Ballers sign first female player.