A’s tie again late, but Diamondbacks prevail in ninth
OAKLAND — The Athletics put themselves in position for back-toback come-from-behind wins Wednesday only to have it come apart in the ninth inning of a 5-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at the Coliseum.
Ramon Laureano woke up a moribund A’s offense with a three-run home run in the seventh to tie the game 3-3 against Ryne Nelson. Coming several hours after Ryan Noda’s pinch-hit grand slam erased a four-run deficit and helped furnish a 13-inning win, the A’s had reason to feel good about winning another game as well as the taking the series.
But in the same inning, Tony Kemp was thrown out at the plate by Corbin Carroll, attempting to score on a single from Esteury Ruiz and the score remained tied. The A’s protested, believing catcher Jose Herrera was blocking the plate, but officials ruled in Arizona’s favor.
It stayed that way until the ninth, when Herrera hit a sacrifice fly off Adrian Martinez and Ketel Marte followed with a run-scoring single. Miguel Castro set the A’s down in order in the bottom of the inning and the A’s dropped to 10-35 before a paid crowd of 4,159.
Arizona, 25-19, got a solo home run in the second from Christian Walker (his 11th) off rookie starter Luis Medina. Medina held the Diamondbacks scoreless until the sixth, when Carroll hit a two-run home run (his sixth) to center field for a 3-0 lead.
“That ball kept carrying,” Kotsay said. “Normal night game, that ball is caught and it’s a different outing.”
Laureano, who hit his second homer in as many days and has five for the season, is hoping for better days ahead.
“We’re going to battle,” Laureano said. “That’s what we can do. We’ve got to stay positive, keep working, be patient and hopefully we can put it together and start having fun here.”
Laureano’s home run against Luis Frias, who had walked the previous two hitters. The A’s also had three walks in the sixth courtesy of Nelson but failed to score when Brent Rooker popped up and J.J. Bleday grounded to second with the bases loaded.
Jose Ruiz, the third of four Arizona pitchers, got his first win of the season. The loser was Shintaro Fujinami (1-5), who had a big strikeout to end the eighth against Walker but set the table for Arizona in the ninth, giving up a double to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and then two walks — one intentional and the other not intentional — to load the bases.
Martinez was summoned in hopes of getting Herrera to ground into a double play.
“He’s got one of the best sinkers and changeups in the game and he elevated a fastball there which becomes a fly ball and a sac fly,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said.
It was the second straight six-inning outing for Medina after being recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas, as he gave up five hits and three earned runs in a 4-0 loss to Texas. With Mason Miller out indefinitely with a UCL sprain and the A’s still waiting for Paul Blackburn to be healthy enough to start, Medina figures to get more work with the big club as a starter.
“I’m still trying to find the best out of myself,” Medina said through a translator. “I’m always going to try and do my best to put my team in the best situation.”
Tuesday: A’s tie it on Ryan Noda’s grand slam, win it in 12th
OAKLAND — The Athletics tied it in the seventh inning on a twoout grand slam from Ryan Noda and Esteury Ruiz singled home a run in the 12th for a 9-8 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at the Coliseum before what was left of a crowd of 3,261.
Austin Pruitt (1-1) was the winning pitcher with three scoreless innings of relief despite the presence of a free lead runner. Scott McGough (1-1) took the loss for Arizona. matching Pruitt until the 12th.
Ruiz lined a one-hopper off Nick Ahmed with one out, bringing in Ramon Laureano with the winning run.
Laureano opened the inning at second and after Shea Langeliers struck out, Jace Peterson was walked intentionally. Nick Allen then reached on an infield single to load the bases, and a Ahmed couldn’t field a smash by Ruiz, allowing the game-winning run to sore.
Allen and Laureano also had solo home runs for the A’s, the first for Allen and the fourth for Laureano. For Arizona, Christian Walker hit a two-run shot in the first (his 10th) and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had his seventh, a two-run shot in the fifth.
The Athletics improved to 10-34 and evened the series at 1-1 with an opportunity to win their second series of the season in Wednesday’s getaway game against Arizona (24-19). The A’s came in having lost three straight and eight of their previous nine games.