The Athletics aren’t surprised about their rising levels of success as they look for a three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles when they close out a road trip Sunday afternoon.

“The expectation level was there,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “For us as a club, we’ve gotten better each year. Big emphasis on defense. Our emphasis on the mound is throwing strikes and not giving up free bases, which I think we did a good job with (Saturday). Those areas of improvement have allowed us to have some consistency in the way we play.”

Saturday’s 6-2 victory gave the Athletics a three-game winning streak for only the second time this season, maintaining their 2 1/2-game lead atop the American League West.

“The group has matured,” Kotsay said. “Obviously, you’d like to accelerate the progress.”

The Orioles have hit a rough patch with a three-game losing streak and defeats in eight of their last 10 games. Baltimore manager Craig Albernaz said the number of strikeouts for the team’s batters (11) was concerning Saturday.

The Athletics like how Zack Gelof has adjusted to playing at third base. He had been groomed as an outfielder, but he made a couple of notable plays in the infield Saturday.

“The athleticism showed,” Kotsay said. ” … He’s settling in right now and he looks really comfortable over there.”

Athletics slugger Nick Kurtz carries a 33-game on-base streak into Sunday’s game. That’s the longest active streak in the majors, and it paid off Saturday as he scored half of the team’s six runs.

Right-hander Luis Severino (2-3, 4.15 ERA) gets the call on the mound for the Athletics and he’ll be aiming for his fourth consecutive solid start. He won two straight outings before being tagged with the loss Tuesday in Philadelphia while giving up one run in five innings. Each of his last three starts have involved yielding one run, with the other two outings lasting at least into the seventh inning.

Severino is 7-4 with a 5.38 ERA in 15 matchups (13 starts) against Baltimore. Of his 75 career victories, he owns more against the Orioles than any other team.

The Athletics have received good coverage from relievers the past few games.

“We’re going to go through games where the bullpen doesn’t have success,” Kotsay said. “That’s just part of the season. It’s never going to go perfect. For us, our bullpen, I think, has been a strength.”

The Orioles turn to right-hander Chris Bassitt (2-2, 5.91 ERA), who had his second-shortest outing of the season (four innings) Tuesday at Miami, where he gave up four runs in a no-decision. Baltimore has won the last five games Bassitt has started.

Bassitt holds a 3-1 record with a 4.20 ERA in eight career outings (seven starts) versus the Athletics.

The Orioles had infielder Blaze Alexander available off the bench after he sat out Friday with a calf injury.

“I just felt something a little different in my calf,” he said of the ailment, which resulted in only a one-day absence.

The Orioles had infielder Jose Barrero on hand Saturday from Triple-A Norfolk in case Alexander needed to be put on the injured list, but that wasn’t the case.

–Field Level Media

Following a sluggish start to their season, the Boston Red Sox will enter Sunday’s rubber game with the visiting Tampa Bay Rays seeking their fifth victory in their last six games.

Although Boston is battling with Baltimore to stay out of the American League East cellar, the Red Sox have surrendered three runs or fewer in nine of their last 13 games. Boston’s pitching staff has a 2.79 ERA during that 13-game span, and the bullpen got a little stronger Saturday.

Before Saturday’s game against Tampa Bay was postponed by rain, the Red Sox announced that reliever Justin Slaten was activated from the injured list after missing more than a month with an oblique strain. Slaten has a 0.00 ERA with five strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings during four appearances this season.

“Another back-end piece that can just lengthen the bullpen out, so it’s big to have him back,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said Saturday. “I think everybody knows when Slaten’s healthy and in there, between him, (setup man Garrett) Whitlock and (closer Aroldis Chapman) we’re going to rely on those guys at the back end of the bullpen, right? It’s like adding an extra guy into a lineup.

“So having that, especially on a day where you look up and all three of them are available, you shorten the game – or you feel like you can. Doesn’t mean they’re invincible, but you feel like you can make it really, really difficult on a team for the last nine outs.”

Slaten had a 4.24 ERA in 36 appearances during an injury-plagued 2025 season, but posted a 2.93 ERA with 58 strikeouts in 55 1/3 innings in 2024, his rookie season.

The Rays and Red Sox split the first two games of what was shortened to a three-game series. Saturday’s postponed game will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader on July 17.

Pitching hasn’t been an issue for Tampa Bay this season, either. The Rays have gone a franchise-record 15 consecutive games without allowing more than three earned runs. Friday night’s 2-0 loss to Boston ended the team’s seven-game winning streak and was Tampa Bay’s second loss in its last 15 games.

Mason Englert was activated from the injured list Friday and pitched the final 3 1/3 innings of Friday’s loss without allowing a run, but was sent to Triple-A Durham on Saturday.

“Mason did one heck of a job for us,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “It was unique coming off the IL in that circumstance. His efficiency and strike-throwing allowed him (to go that long) and freshen up the rest of the guys in the bullpen.”

Cash said Saturday’s postponed game won’t alter the team’s rotation, which means right-hander Nick Martinez (3-1, 1.71 ERA) will start Sunday, and Drew Rasmussen, who was originally scheduled to pitch Sunday, will start Monday’s game in Toronto.

Martinez has won his last three starts, giving up two runs in 20 innings. Martinez is 1-3 with a 5.80 ERA in nine career appearances (five starts) against the Red Sox.

Boston will counter with lefty Payton Tolle (1-1, 2.04). Like Martinez, Tolle was scheduled to pitch Saturday.

It will be Tolle’s first career start against Tampa Bay but he did allow a run on two hits in one inning during a relief appearance against the Rays last September.

Sunday’s start will come just over two years after Tolle’s mother, Jina, died following an eight-year battle with colon cancer.

–Field Level Media

The Los Angeles Angels will pin their hopes on Jose Soriano on Sunday afternoon as they aim to avoid a three-game sweep by the host Toronto Blue Jays.

Even though the right-hander did not factor in the decision on April 22 at Anaheim, the Angels went on to defeat the Blue Jays 7-3 in that series finale to avert a three-game sweep.

Soriano allowed no runs and seven hits in five innings in that start. He is 0-0 with a 3.09 ERA in three career games (two starts) against Toronto.

Soriano (5-2, 1.74 ERA) has lost his past two starts, both to the Chicago White Sox.

He surrendered five runs, eight hits and three walks in four innings to Chicago on May 4 in the 6-0 home loss.

“It was just one of those days where you can’t control the strike zone and they put good swings on it, too,” Soriano said after the setback. “It’s a little tough when you face the same team (in consecutive starts) and they already see what you’ve got. But we have to continue to battle. I didn’t have the result, but I battled to the end.”

The Blue Jays have won the first two games of the series, including a 14-1 romp on Saturday. A seven-run fifth inning sealed the deal. The Angels hurt themselves with shoddy fielding.

“It just seemed like everything they touched fell in,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Maybe better execution, but at the end of the day, you minimize some hard contact. They do a good job of putting the ball in play and they found holes.”

Infielder Adam Frazier doubled in the Angels’ only run of the series as a pinch hitter in the eighth and pitched the bottom of the inning, yielding four runs.

The Blue Jays are scheduled to open with right-hander Spencer Miles (1-0, 3.50) followed by lefty Eric Lauer (1-4, 6.03). Miles has one career outing against the Angels, tossing 1 1/3 scoreless relief innings on April 21, a 4-2 Toronto road win.

Lauer did not figure in the decision on April 22 against the Angels when he started and allowed three runs in five innings. In three career games (two starts) against the Angels, he is 0-0 with a 3.97 ERA.

Right fielder Addison Barger returned to the Blue Jays’ lineup Saturday. He suffered a sprained ankle April 5 that put him on the injured list.

He made his presence felt by taking two walks and throwing out Jorge Soler at home on a strong throw from right field in the second inning after catching Vaughn Grissom’s line drive.

“I was pretty happy,” Barger said. “Throwing the ball from the outfield is one of my favorite things about the game.”

The throw was timed at 101.2 mph, the hardest throw on an outfield assist in the major leagues this season. It is the hardest throw by a Toronto position player in the Statcast era (since 2015).

“He’s got a great arm,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “People know that it’s one thing to have a good arm. It’s another thing to be accurate with it, too.”

Barger was 0-for-3 and is 1-for-22 (.045) in nine games this season. Toronto optioned outfielder Yohendrick Pinango to Triple-A Buffalo in the corresponding move.

One bright spot for the Angels came in the ninth inning when catcher Omar Martinez singled as a pinch hitter in his first major league at-bat. He was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake on Friday when Travis d’Arnaud (foot) was put on the 10-day injured list.

–Field Level Media