A’s extend winning streak to 11, helped by 2 Twins errors in 10th
OAKLAND, Calif. — Ramon Laureano thought there was something in the air. He smelled victory.
“It’s like the Bay Area wind. It just smells like you’re going to win,” Laureano said Wednesday after the Oakland Athletics extended their winning streak to 11 with a 10th-inning rally fueled by two errors for a 13-12 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
Luis Arraez threw away Laureano’s grounder for Minnesota’s second error in the 10th as two runs scored.
“It’s just baseball and it’s hard to understand,” Laureano said. “We were still loose and having fun, so we knew we would win.”
Nelson Cruz had two home runs and four RBIs for the Twins, and Byron Buxton hit a two-run homer against Lou Trivino for a 12-10 lead in the 10th.
Alex Colome (1-2) got the first two outs in the bottom half with the automatic runner on second, then walked Seth Brown and Elvis Andrus, loading the bases.
Mark Canha hit what should have been a game-ending grounder to second baseman Travis Blankenhorn, who entered as a pinch runner for Josh Donaldson in the 10th, but Blankenhorn allowed the ball to bounce off his glove for a run-scoring error.
Laureano hit a one-hopper to Arraez for what again should have been the final out. Arraez, who had moved to third from second base for the 10th, sailed his throw over first baseman Willians Astudillo as the tying and winning runs scored.
“Talk about a complete flip of the script,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “It felt like the game would end in some unorthodox way, like it was the whole game.”
Oakland started the season 0-6, split its next two games, then went on the 11-game winning streak, the longest in the major leagues since the A’s won 11 in a row from May 1627, 2019. No other team had lost its first six games and have an 11-game winning streak later that season, STATS said.
Deolis Guerra (1-0) got the final out of the top of the 10th.
Minnesota was swept in the three-game series, the first time the Twins were swept this season.
“I wish we could be talking about game-saving plays,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “And Taylor Rogers really stepped up for us. He was impressive.”
Donaldson had four hits, including a home run, and is hitting .556 (10 for 18) since coming off the injured list. He’s reached in 18 of his last 31 plate appearances against his former club.
Matt Chapman tied the score 10-10 with a sacrifice fly in the ninth off Colome, who blew a save for the third time.
Matt Olson homered twice and had three RBIs for the A’s, who allowed more runs than they had in seven previous games combined. Jed Lowrie doubled twice and drove in two runs.
Twins starter Kenta Maeda gave up a career-high-tying seven runs and eight hits in three innings.
“I could not set the tone,” Maeda said through an interpreter. “If I had done that, we would have gotten that W.”
A’s starter Frankie Montas allowed six runs and nine hits in four innings.
“That was fun to watch,” Montas said. “It was really cool.”