The Miami Marlins reached the series finale against the Athletics with a sweep in front of them after putting up 19 runs in the first two games. West Sacramento had already seen the series tilt sharply Miami’s way, and the finale gave the Athletics one chance to stop it.
Gage Jump was lined up for his eighth major league start for the Athletics. He came in with a 3-2 record, a 2.93 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP and 40 strikeouts over his first 40 innings, but his previous outing was rough: five runs, 11 hits and two home runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Eury Pérez and Sandy Alcantara
Eury Pérez was scheduled to start for the Marlins in his 15th start. He carried a 4-6 record, a 4.21 ERA, a 1.21 WHIP and 81 strikeouts over 72 2/3 innings, and he came off a win after holding the Colorado Rockies to one run on two hits in 5 1/3 innings.
The day before, Sandy Alcantara had thrown eight innings of one-run ball against the Athletics. That set Miami up with a shorter path to another win: keep the run line moving and force Oakland to answer a series it had already lost twice.
Kyle Stowers out, Brian Serven in
Miami changed its look for the finale. Kyle Stowers was left out of the lineup after hitting three home runs in the previous two games, while Liam Hicks and Jakob Marsee were the lone left-handed hitters in the Marlins lineup. Esteury Ruiz also got his first start of the series after pinch-running the last two nights.
The Athletics had their own shuffle. Brian Serven was set to make his Athletics debut and his first MLB appearance since playing in 28 games for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2024, while Shea Langeliers was sidelined by a thumb injury. Mark Kotsay had to go into the finale without his catcher and with a lineup built around Henry Bolte, Lawrence Butler, Joshua Kuroda-Grauer and Max Muncy.
That left the finale with a simple pressure point: Miami had already done the scoring needed to put a sweep within reach, and the Athletics had to protect Sutter Health Park from turning into the kind of week that runs away from a team fast. For Jump, the assignment was to steady a home field that had already seen too much traffic. For Pérez, it was to keep the Marlins’ offense from needing much more than it had already provided.
