A’s win in 13th on rookie’s first hit in majors; Giants to monitor Posey.
Ramon Laureano said before Friday’s game that he wasn’t sure how he’d react when he got on the field for his big-league debut. But, he said several times, “I know I have a job to do.”
And so he did. The center fielder, just up from Triple-A Nashville, ended a scoreless tie with two outs in the 13th inning when his first major-league hit sent Nick Martini in to give the A’s a 1-0 victory at the Coliseum. Oakland, which leads the Mariners by 1½ games in the race for the second wildcard spot, has won 10 games in a row against the Tigers for the first time since 1931.
“I’m shocked, I’m speechless, it’s awesome,” Laureano said. “I could not have never imagined this.”
After going hitless in his first four atbats, Laureano laid off a slider just out of the zone right before his base hit to right off Buck Farmer.
“I wasn’t myself early in the game, but I made adjustments and good things happened,” Laureano said.
Laureano got a whole shebang of showers — first he got the walk-off pie to the face postgame, then he got the customary drenching in the shower. “They threw tomato juice at me, beer, everything you can imagine,” he said.
Laureano also turned in a terrific play in the top of the inning. After leading the Pacific Coast League with 26 assists, he threw out Jose Iglesias at third as Iglesias tried to advance on an error. Laureano made a nice catch in the first, too, on a deep
drive by Nicholas Castellanos, running back to the wall and making the play with the ball going from shadow to sun as it reached him.
“This is a day he will definitely not forget,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said.
Earlier, Stephen Piscotty had preserved the tie by ending the 10th with a marvelous catch, sprinting forward, all-out, and, with a runner at second, diving for a sinking liner by Iglesias.
“Incredible,” said reliever Blake Treinen, who was on the mound. “I saw it hang up and thought, ‘Stephen’s got a chance.’ Great play.”
Brett Anderson turned in one of the best starts the team has enjoyed this season, retiring the first 16 hitters he faced. For Oakland, the only issue was that Anderson’s opposing number, left-hander Blaine Hardy, was equally tough to crack, issuing just two walks — both to Matt Olson — in the first six innings before Jed Lowrie finally rapped the A’s first hit, an infield single leading off the seventh.
With the A’s operating with an improvised rotation because of injuries and under-performance, Anderson has been on the shakiest ground, especially when his ERA went back over 6.00 last month. He got that number down to 4.64 with Friday’s effort.
He was tremendous Friday, giving up just two hits. The first was a double by Iglesias with one out in the sixth, but Anderson got consecutive grounders to get out of the inning. In his final inning of work, after a leadoff single by Castellanos and a walk to Niko Goodrum, Anderson got John Hicks to bounce into a double play, then got a groundout by Victor Martinez.
Anderson induced 11 groundballs and he struck out two. Yes, Detroit came into the game with the second lowest run total in the league, 424, and the second worst on-base percentage, .300, but Anderson still became the first Oakland pitcher besides Sean Manaea to throw seven innings since Chris Bassitt did so on June 9. Manaea did it July 4, so it had been a while.
Edwin Jackson, Trevor Cahill and Manaea all scored wins over the weekend, limiting Toronto to six runs, total.
Anderson departed having thrown only 74 pitches — he’s thrown over 90 pitches twice this season. But he’d been through the Tigers’ lineup 2½ times, and the A’s have one of the top bullpens in the game.
“It’s tough to go up against the three-headed monster at the back end of the bullpen,” Anderson said. “It’s tough to argue against that.”
Coming off a day off, the unit was fresh and ready to go. Jeurys Familia worked a scoreless eighth and Blake Treinen got the ninth and 10th, giving up a single in both innings. Yusmeiro Petit and Emilio Pagan kept the Tigers off the board the rest of the way.
Hardy also exited after seven, having allowed only the one hit and the two walks, but he’d thrown 106 pitches.
“You look up at the linescore and you realize there haven’t been a whole lot of hits, both sides,” Anderson said. “You just try to go out and throw up a zero and, with our bullpen and our offense, eventually you feel like we’re going to come through. Tonight, it just took a little longer than most.”