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OAKLAND — Matt Olson thought he had a walk off homer in the A’s previous game that ended up bouncing off the wall in an extra-inning loss. He made sure that didn’t happen two games in a row.
After an exhilarating comeback in the ninth to get the game to extras, Olson took Tony Sipp to a full count before unloading on a slider. He knew this one was gone, and even took a few seconds to admire it as it went over the right field wall and sent the electric crowd at the Coliseum into a frenzy as the A’s walked it off in the tenth for a 4-3 victory over the Astros, keeping their hopes of overtaking Houston for the division lead this weekend alive now just one game back.
ONE. GAME. BACK pic.twitter.com/TAuRHKtihq
— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) August 18, 2018
“Definitely one of the cooler things I’ve done in my career,” Olson said of his first career walk off home run. “The most juiced I’ve gotten in my career, for sure. After striking out with runners on first and second and no outs earlier I wanted to get another chance and luckily I did something with it.”
In a mid-August game that felt an awful lot like playoff baseball, nine innings weren’t enough to decide it.
The Astros (74-48) appeared ticketed to a victory when Nick Martini doubled to to the right field corner off Hector Rondon in the ninth, sending pinch-running Ramon Laureano to home all the way from first for a play at the plate as Carlos Correa took a relay throw from Josh Reddick and fired it to catcher Martin Maldonado. Laureano slid head-first into home and was called out, but immediately rose up and urged A’s manager Bob Melvin to challenge the play.
Tie. Game. pic.twitter.com/BPMFbBlZFC
— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) August 18, 2018
All 25,535 fans in attendance at the Coliseum collectively held their breath as they awaited the ruling, and after about 3 1/2 minutes, the place went to a frenzy as home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez signaled the safe sign, overturning the original call as the A’s (73-49) had tied the game 3-3.
Safe! pic.twitter.com/iNiq5Kfzqy
— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) August 18, 2018
Laureano said he knew he was going to try for home right off the crack of the bat after seeing how far off the right field line Reddick was playing. The replays appeared razor close, even on the big screens, but Laureano said he was confident he was safe the whole time.
“I beat the tag,” Laureano said. “He blocked the plate but I knew I beat the throw. I knew right away.”
Melvin thought Alex Bregman may have interfered with Laureano as he was rounding third base, causing the speedy outfielder to lose balance, but he also thought Laureano was safe after watching on the big screen.
“I thought his hand got in there. It didn’t look like (Maldonado) tagged him where potentially the out call would have been made,” Melvin said. “I’m probably a little biased, but that’s what I saw.”
Much was made about the low attendance numbers throughout the A’s previous series against the Seattle Mariners earlier in the week, which barely cracked 10,000 each game. Olson was one of the many players who took to social media to make a plea for more fans to show up for this crucial series against Houston.
They showed up, and the club felt the difference.
“I thank the fans that came out. They don’t realize how big of an advantage that is to have an extra 15,000 people there. It makes a world of a difference,” Olson said. “You get in those big situations and the crowd gets loud and (the Astros) start to feel more pressure. We get amped up. It’s big to have everybody here behind us.”
Of course the A’s won this game by scoring late. That’s been their recipe for success all year, with their 219 runs scored in the seventh or later the second-most in the majors.
“We’re never out of any game. That’s how we always feel no matter if we’re losing by one run or ten,” Laureano said. “We feel like we got this game and that’s what it takes to win a World Series. It doesn’t happen very often, but that’s what we have here.”
Matt Chapman smacked a two-out single to right field off Charlie Morton in the fifth to tie it up 2-2, but that didn’t faze the Astros much. They wasted no time taking the lead right back in the sixth as former A’s fan favorite Josh Reddick singled to left off Lou Trivino and drove in Marwin Gonzalez.
Trivino has been a rookie sensation for most of the year, but his last several outings have been concerning. The right-hander is getting hit around more often, posting a 7.71 ERA over his last six outings. The fastball velocity is still there, sitting around 96-98 mph, but Trivino appears to be having trouble finding the strike zone as he’s walked four batters over his last 4 2/3 innings pitched.
Edwin Jackson did his best to keep the A’s in the game. His two runs allowed both came on solo homers by Alex Bregman and Martin Maldonado, as he managed to pitch out of trouble a couple of times before departing after five innings with just the two runs allowed on five hits and two walks with two strikeouts on 89 pitches.
Jackson has only been here a couple of months, but he felt there was something special about this team when he first signed back in June. They really don’t give up, evidence by their major league-best 39-13 record since June 16, with 21 of those wins having come from behind.
“I wish I could say how I really feel, but to put it in a mannerable statement, that was a hell of a game. And that’s an understatement,” Jackson said. “That’s the team we have. This team is capable of doing special things like that on a daily basis. Tonight showed that.”
The A’s blew a huge opportunity in the eighth when Jed Lowrie and Khris Davis were left stranded on first and third after both reached base to lead off the inning.
Astros manager AJ Hinch knew the A’s would be tough to keep down. He learned that firsthand during their previous series in Houston last month, when the A’s took three out of four, two of those wins of the come-from-behind variety.
“You have to keep putting pressure on them,” Hinch said. “They’re a good club. They’re very confident. They’ve won a lot of games. They’ve been one of the best teams in baseball for a couple of months now, record-wise.
“You have to control their offense. They’re really tough. They put the ball in play. They have extended at-bats. They generally don’t chase. They’ve hurt us with extending our pitch counts up with foul balls and making it really hard to get our outs.”
With a whole new bullpen that now features Jeurys Familia and Fernando Rodney in addition to All-Star closer Blake Treinen, Hinch said the A’s only became even tougher since he last saw them.
“They believe that they can rally late and close,” Hinch said. “They generally get the right matchups and now they have a whole revamped bullpen that’s very challenging when they get the lead. You have to get a lead like any good team — against any good team.”
— The A’s will hold a pregame celebration in honor of the 2002 A’s team that won 20 games in a row Saturday, but a few notable players will be missing. Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, Barry Zito, and manager Art Howe were among the names missing from the list of attendees. Chavez is currently serving as the Angels Triple-A manager, while Miguel Tejada is in the Dominican Republic.
Howe, who reportedly had issues with Billy Beane for his portrayal in the “Moneyball” movie several years back, was invited and confirmed to attend, but canceled last-minute due to a funeral.
— Matt Joyce (lower back strain) took batting practice again prior to Friday night’s game. The plan is for him to continue taking part in pregame activities this week before sending him out on a minor league rehab assignment with a target of September for his return to Oakland. Joyce was batting .203 with seven home runs and 13 RBIs before landing on the disabled list July 5.
