Zack Gelof stays hot, helps Athletics get past Mariners

The Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday afternoon by a score of 4-2. Zack Gelof led the way, grabbing his 4th home run of the spring en route to a multi-hit, multi-RBI day.

Gelof has been on fire this spring. He's now hitting .412/.549/.853 with 4 homers, 8 RBI, and 12 runs scored. He's firmly entrenched in the second base slot heading into the 2024 season and projects to be the best player on the roster for at least the upcoming season, if not longer.

Miguel Andujar got another hit this afternoon. He's now recorded at least one hit in all but one of his 11 games, with three of those being multi-hit days. He's hitting .406 and it's not just empty batting average. He has 4 home runs and 13 RBI's and is shaping up to be a significant piece of the A's roster in 2024.

It's a far cry from where he was just a couple years ago, when he was struggling badly enough that he was at risk of losing his spot on the Pirates' roster.

The newly acquired Alex Wood had mixed results yesterday. He threw 4.1 innings and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits, one of them a home run to third baseman Brian Anderson. He did notch 5 strikeouts though, and didn't allow a walk all afternoon.

Wood was pulled in the 5th and the Athletics turned to Dany Jimenez to clean up the inning. Jimenez allowed a hit and a walk but the A's escaped the inning holding on to a 3-2 lead that they wouldn't relinquish.

Zack Jackson and Stevie Emanuels both looked sharp in one inning apiece. They struck out two batters each and neither allowed a run.

Emanuels has yet to give up a run in his 4 appearances this spring. He's not going to make the opening day roster but has the skillset to potentially serve as a mid-season callup if the A's need an injury replacement.

The Athletics are set to return Wednesday afternoon with a matchup against the Padres. Righty Ross Stripling is scheduled to face off against Padres' ace Joe Musgrove.

Musgrove dealt with a shoulder injury last year and he hasn't looked sharp so far this spring, allowing 8 runs on 5 hits in 1.2 innings across 2 starts. The Athletics will look to jump on him early and often and keep the bats moving. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 pm PST.