A's aim to leapfrog Angels in bid to move out of AL West cellar

The Athletics will try to complete a three-game series sweep of the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif., and in the process move out of last place in the American League West.

"That's our goal," A's manager Mark Kotsay said. "Our goal is obviously to improve from last season. Obviously, we'd like to be in a different position than we are right now, (and) to continue to play good baseball."

The Athletics (66-77) enter the series finale trailing fourth-place Los Angeles (66-76) by a half-game in the standings.

The A's have dominated the first two games of the series, scoring 27 runs on 30 hits, including six home runs, while holding Los Angeles to eight runs and 14 hits. Saturday night's 17-4 victory matched a season high for runs in a game and marked the third time in the last five games that the Athletics have scored 10 or more runs.

"This whole team can hit," said outfielder Colby Thomas, who went 2-for-5 with a home run, three RBIs and four runs. "Everybody can hit. You saw the guys tonight come off the bench and hit, and it's something we pride ourselves in."

After back-to-back 100-loss seasons in 2022 and 2023, the A's went 69-93 to finish fourth in the divison last season, six games ahead of the last-place Angels.

With the win on Saturday, the Athletics improved to 24-15 in their last 39 games.

"Every game matters for this group, and every game that we can go out and win builds confidence for going into next season," Kotsay said. "It's important for this group to learn how to win.'

Right-hander Luis Severino (6-11, 4.65 ERA), who is 0-1 with a 3.09 ERA in six career starts against Los Angeles, will start the series finale. He will oppose rookie left-hander Mitch Farris (1-0, 1.80).

The 24-year-old Farris, a 14th-round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves in 2023, was acquired in a trade for right-hander Davis Daniel in December. He pitched five strong innings in his major league debut on Tuesday at Kansas City, allowing one run on three hits with three strikeouts in a 5-1 victory.

"It was awesome," Farris said. "Just trying to get out there with some confidence. Five innings, one run. Way more than I could ask for."

The Angels, in the thick of the AL wild-card race at the trade deadline in late July, fell eight games out with 20 games remaining following Saturday's loss. Los Angeles is just 7-14 since Aug. 14 and needs a strong finish to avoid its 10th straight losing season.

"At different times during the year, we've made some runs, put ourselves in a good spot, played good baseball," interim Angels manager Ray Montgomery said. "Everybody runs through these stretches, but when it happens at the end of the year, it doesn't feel great. The focus for me now, for these last 20 games, is to continue to stay together as a group."

--Field Level Media