'It feels great': Clutch performances key A's bounceback win

MIAMI -- Ninth-inning theatrics marked the conclusion of Athletics-Marlins for the second straight day at loanDepot park. But Sunday afternoon, favor tipped in the A’s direction after they lost in heartbreaking fashion on a Kyle Stowers walk-off grand slam Saturday evening.

Nick Kurtz and Tyler Soderstrom were the men of the moment, teaming up with clutch heroics to send the clubhouse into a fever-pitched frenzy postgame after the A’s 3-2 win. And their efforts were only made meaningful by a quality start from JP Sears, who successfully kept Miami’s offense at bay.

Kurtz got into scoring position with a one-out triple (the first of his Major League career) that tucked into the left-field corner. Soderstrom followed by sending a 1-0 fastball into center field for a single to plate his teammate.

“It feels great,” Soderstrom said of his game-winning hit. “First-pitch changeup was a little down, was able to take it, and then [Anthony Bender] tried to challenge me there with the sinker and left it over the middle, and I was able to put it in center.”

Kurtz, who has yet to hit his first career homer after hitting seven in 20 games with Triple-A Las Vegas, is happy to contribute in other ways.

“It’s definitely an adjustment trying to go from Triple-A arms and Minor League arms to this,” Kurtz said.

“Just trying to get more comfortable. I think that’s what it’s all about. The power and the slug isn’t really coming right now, and I think it’s funny just how baseball is. I hit a triple before I hit a double or a homer. It’s a funny game, but if I just keep hitting the ball hard, [the home runs will] come.”

Meanwhile, Sears has been the Athletics’ most consistent starting pitcher this season, and he kept that trend going to close out the team’s series win against Miami.

Sears, who leads A’s starters with a 2.93 ERA, allowed two runs on four hits while striking out two batters and walking none in 6 1/3 innings. He tossed 80 pitches (60 strikes).

Sears wasn’t particularly active in the strikeout column, but he didn’t need to be. Control is his forte, and like a maestro, he was in complete command of his pitch arsenal throughout the early innings.

The 29-year-old Sears retired 11 straight batters after allowing a leadoff single to Miami’s Xavier Edwards. He allowed two runs via a two-out rally in which Miami collected three consecutive hits in the fourth.

Sears recovered to put up clean innings in the fifth and sixth, and he set down Kyle Stowers in a lefty-on-lefty matchup before the A’s pulled the hook.

“I felt pretty in control of the zone today,” Sears said. “I think just recognizing they were … being a little bit aggressive early. [I was] trying to use that to my advantage, get some early outs. [I] tried to locate some fastballs in and get some good breaking balls off-speed in the zone, so just trying to mix it up.”

Speaking of control, Sunday’s start marked Sears’ seventh straight in which he issued two walks or fewer. His 1.35 walks per nine innings is fifth lowest in the Majors, and he has gone 45 consecutive starts without a wild pitch, the second-longest streak in A’s history behind Catfish Hunter from 1967-69.

Sears was magnificent over his last three starts heading into Sunday, going 3-0 with a 1.62 ERA. He didn’t register a win Sunday, but his four wins heading into the matchup were tied for sixth in the Majors.

“He’s just fun to watch,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “It’s great when you have a competitor like that out there, especially in a game where you’re trying to win a series, and you’re coming off a tough loss. This kid, for the last two-plus years now, has just gone out, taken the ball every fifth day and given us everything he’s got.”

For the A’s, who collected their third straight series win, Sears & Co. provided the team with just the right amount of momentum heading into a gauntlet over their next four series: Mariners, Yankees, Dodgers, then Giants.

“No question, we’re on a tough stretch here,” Kotsay said. “We’re playing good, we got some confidence, which is a good thing. Any time you’re going up against good teams, you want to feel like you’re playing good baseball. And I think that group out there is playing good baseball.”