OAKLAND, Calif. – The most uplifting news for the Oakland A’s on Thursday was the announcement that Tony Kemp had been named the team’s nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, the third straight year he’s been given that distinction.
Otherwise, on the field, it was mostly business as usual for the A’s, who moved that much closer to establishing a new Oakland record for futility at home over a full season.
JP Sears had his poorest big league outing of the year, allowing six earned runs in the first two innings as the A’s were handed their most lopsided loss of the season, a 14-2 boat-racing at the hands of the Chicago White Sox before a crowd of 4,591 at the Coliseum.
Oakland (50-88) allowed five home runs to the White Sox (70-68), and the run differential Thursday was the most for the A’s in a loss at home since Sept. 20, 2020, when they were beaten 14-2 by the San Francisco Giants.
Sears allowed home runs to Elvis Andrus and Yoan Moncada in the first inning, then allowed another homer to Moncada in the second, a three-run shot that gave the White Sox a 6-0 lead.
Sears was replaced by Zach Logue for the start of the third inning. Logue, in his third outing since he was taken out of the starting rotation, gave up 10 hits, including two homers, and eight earned runs over three innings.
The A’s in turn managed just three hits off White Sox starter Dylan Cease, who lasted six innings to improve to 14-6 with a 2.06 ERA this season.
Sears had been one of the A’s bright spots since he was acquired from the New York Yankees as part of the Frankie Montas deal. Starting with his first appearance for Oakland on Aug. 10, Sears had a 2-1 record and a 2.63 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 27.1 innings in five starts with the A’s.
Thursday, though, Sears’ second pitch of the game, a 93 mph four-seam fastball, was crushed 444 feet by Andrus over the left field wall. His sixth pitch of the game, an 82 mph changeup, was hit 404 feet to left by Moncada.
Sears’ shortest MLB starts before Thursday were five-inning outings on May 25 for New York, and Aug. 16 and 21 for Oakland.
With the loss, the A’s fell to 22-46 at the Coliseum this season, and are in real danger of finishing the year with the worst home record in Oakland history.
The A’s worst-ever record at the Coliseum came in 1979 when they went 31-50. Starting Friday, Oakland plays three more home games against the White Sox to finish their homestand and have one series each against the Seattle Mariners, New York Mets, and Los Angeles Angels to end the year.
Kemp was honored to be once again named the A’s Roberto Clemente nominee. The award recognizes an MLB player who best represents the game “through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy, and positive contributions both on and off the field.”
Kemp once again teamed up this season with Players for the Planet and One Tree Planted, serving as a player ambassador to further the organization’s mission to plant trees in urban communities. Kemp is pledging $250 for every stolen base and extra-base hit.
Kemp also has his own +1 Effect campaign, which, per a release, “combats social injustice through individual conversations,” and is an active member of the Players Alliance, which tries to create an “inclusive culture within baseball and the community in order to elevate racial equality and provide greater opportunities for the Black community.”
The A’s will recognize Kemp as their nominee this year during a pregame presentation on Sept. 20.
“It’s always more important what you do off the field than what you do on,” Kemp said. “It’s just a blessing to be nominated with a lot of other guys who worry about the community and care and take that extra step.”
