No longer the punching bag of recent years, for a lack of a better word, an intriguing Athletics team came to Dodger Stadium and properly introduced itself by smashing the NL West leaders in an 11-1 victory on Tuesday. With this win, the A’s further improved their impressive road record to 14-7, the best one in all of baseball.

Landon Knack made some solid starts this season, however, they came against offenses that don’t cause much of a scare, particularly in the Marlins and Rockies. Well, the Athletics aren’t exactly a powerhouse, but they’re a significant improvement over those other two, and they showed as much, punishing Knack for five runs in this one.

The game got started with a Jacob Wilson single, and although he’d end up stranded in the first, that would be a sign of things to come as the A’s shortstop was the star of the evening. Wilson was the main player responsible for the Athletics’ sizable lead, homering in each of his next two at-bats to help the visiting side go up in the third, a lead they would never relinquish.

Wilson is a contact bat and one of the best in 2025, currently hitting .365, but as a Los Angeles native, he left the power output exclusively for this series at Dodger Stadium. Wilson, who had three homers in all of his 247 at-bats as a big leaguer, needed one game to up that tally to five.

Offensively, it was the weirdest of games for a Dodgers team that saw decent production from the most unlikely of places and nothing else. Michael Conforto had his best game as a Dodger with three doubles off a lefty, and even Chris Taylor got in on the extra-base party, but apparently no one else was invited.

The veteran Jeffrey Springs carved through the Dodgers’ lineup like a hot knife through butter, delivering his best start since he moved to the A’s. Springs went over 100 pitches to complete seven innings, allowing just one run.

Springs’ numbers, like much of the A’s staff, don’t exactly jump out at you, but it should be noted, most of his struggles have come on the road. Prior to this game, Springs had allowed a .304 slugging percentage in four games away from home, and that trend continued. As it’s evident by their road record, this A’s team has played much better away from Sacramento in the early part of this season.

Back to the A’s offense for a bit, it probably didn’t come as quickly as he wanted, but star prospect Nick Kurtz got his first big league home run in the eighth. An inning later, Miguel Andujar and JJ Bleday would get in on the fun, both homering as Dave Roberts sent Miguel Rojas out there for the ninth inning of this blowout loss.

Game particulars

Home runs: Jacob Wilson (5), Nick Kurtz (1), Miguel Andujar (1), J.J. Bleday (6)

WP— Jeffrey Springs (5-3): 7 IP, 6 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts

LP— Landon Knack (2-1): 4⅔ IP, 7 hits, 5 runs, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts

Up next

Nothing makes you feel better after a blowout defeat at home than sending your ace out there in Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and that’s what Los Angeles will do on Wednesday (7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA), while the A’s counter with the rookie Gunnar Hoglund.