Astros rally past A’s in extra innings
HOUSTON — It was all setting up perfectly for the Oakland A’s. They had just completed another late-inning comeback to take the lead in extra innings, giving way to their automatic All-Star closer. It was similar to the movie we’ve seen plenty of times this season. But this one had a twist ending.
Blake Treinen’s streak of 20 consecutive save opportunities converted was snapped, and a brutal mistake by Jonathan Lucroy turned an amazing comeback into one of the most bizarre finishes possible in Tuesday’s 6-5 extra-inning loss to the Astros.
Having already allowed the game-tying run after a throw home by Marcus Semien bounced off Lucroy’s glove while trying to tag out Josh Reddick at the plate, the catcher then made a grave mistake.
What looked like a basic tapper in front of home plate by Alex Bregman turned wild when Lucroy picked up the ball and attempted to tag out Bregman, who was shifting back and forth to avoid the tag, and dropped the ball. He
then picked the ball up and hit Bregman on the helmet, with the ball sailing past first baseman Mark Canha. Kyle Tucker came in to score. Game over.
Asked if he’d ever seen such a finish to end a game, A’s manager Bob Melvin responded, “Probably not like that.”
Lucroy took full responsibility for both runs scoring in the ninth.
“In the moment it happened fast. I screwed it all up,” Lucroy said. “I let them down defensively behind the plate there. That’s on me.
“The problem is I tried to go tag him and the ball came out of my hand. After it got away, I tried to get behind him in foul territory where I can make a throw and it hit him right on the side of the helmet. That’s what did it. It was a good throw, just hit him on the helmet. It’s a game of angles and I lost that one.”
In Lucroy’s eight years in the big leagues, he too had never been part of such an ending to a ballgame.
“That was just big mess behind home plate. A big zoo,” Lucroy said. “First time that’s ever happened in my career and hopefully it’s the last time.”
The weird finish overshadowed what was another amazing comeback the A’s have gotten used to this season.
Looking dead in the water through eight innings, the A’s mounted a furious comeback by leading off with four consecutive singles ninth as they dropped a four-spot on the Astros. The rally was capped off by Marcus Semien, who with two outs smacked a first-pitch slider from Hector Rondon into left field to bring home Khris Davis and Nick Martini for a game-tying double.
After Yusmeiro Petit held the meat of the Astros lineup in check for two more innings, Stephen Piscotty delivered with a go-ahead solo bomb into the left field Crawford boxes. It was Piscotty’s 10th home run of the season and fourth straight game with a homer, the longest stretch of consecutive games with a home run since Matt Olson homered in five straight games last year Sept. 15-19.
As he’s done so often against Oakland throughout his 14 seasons in the big leagues, Justin Verlander dominated. Though just like the previous night against another All-Star in Gerrit Cole, the A’s chased Verlander out of the game at 110 pitches through six scoreless innings.
Melvin watched this all go down from the clubhouse after he was tossed in the fourth inning. Appearing to have some words from the bench for home plate umpire David Rackley following Davis’ strikeout against Verlander, which was a called third strike on a close check swing. Shortly after, Rackley handed Melvin his first ejection since May 27, 2017 at Yankee Stadium. Melvin emerged from the dugout and walked directly to home plate to get his money’s worth with Rackley before heading to the clubhouse.