Athletics

Gelof was hurt while making a sliding catch in foul territory in left field when his knee made contact with metal railing, which was later covered by padding following the incident. He’s requesting compensatory damages over his lost time, medical expenses and physical pain.

There had been some hope that Williams would be able to return for Sunday’s finale, but he’ll miss his fourth consecutive game due to soreness in his upper extremities. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer will start in his place at shortstop and will bat seventh for the A’s.

Perkins struck out nine, but he gave up three homers along the way. He ends the year 3-13 with a 6.10 ERA in 17 starts and 20 relief appearances. The stuff is there to make him a potentially adequate fifth starter or a quality reliever, but he’s been handicapped by working in a minor league park more than half of the time since debuting in 2025.

Harris issued a walk, but he worked around it by not allowing a hit and picking up a strikeout. He also picked up his 17th save of the season while seeing his ERA drop to 3.33. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he was tasked to close games again for the A’s in 2027.

Baseball is so weird. A start after Lopez gave up a whopping 10 runs in 2 2/3 innings, Lopez allowed just a solo homer to Christian Walker and one other hit in one of the best starts of the 28-year-old’s career. There have been flashes of this from Lopez in his short career, but this was the closest we’ve seen to him putting it all together, much to the Astros’ dismay. Lopez still ends the year with a 5.47 ERA, and will need to win one of the final spot in the A’s rotation in the Cactus League come next spring.

It’s the second straight game that Williams has missed due to upper extremity soreness. He’s still considered day-to-day. Donovan Walton will start in his place at shortstop and will bat sixth for the A’s against Astros’ ace Hunter Brown on Friday evening in West Sacramento.

Barnett struck out eight, matching his career high from a start against the Angels a year ago. The A’s, though, fell to 0-6 in his starts. Barnett ends the year with a 7.02 ERA and a 50/30 K/BB over 50 innings. It’s probably not going to be enough to keep him on the 40-man roster this winter.

Gelof’s exit velocity numbers aren’t quite as impressive as his .259/.326/.484 line suggests, but he’s made enough progress this year to be penciled in at either second or third for the A’s next spring. Most importantly, he’s sporting a 24 percent strikeout rate, which is a huge improvement over his previous career mark of 33 percent.

It doesn’t sound like anything overly serious, but with just three games to go over the weekend it’s also no guarantee that the 27-year-old sees the field again this season. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer will start in his place at shortstop and bat eighth against Peter Lambert and the Astros on Thursday evening in West Sacramento.

Bolte’s first four-hit game as a major leaguer put him at .279/.362/.407 through 455 plate appearances. His second double tonight left his bat at 115.1 mph, which is a new high for him. He previously topped out at 113.7 mph on a single against the Rays just last week.