Clutch 11th inning caps A’s comeback win over Angels.
Lucroy’s 11th-inning drive helps Oakland take series
OAKLAND >> In a homestand in which the A’s had been battered and bruised, they closed it out showing they still have some fight left in them.
After a furious late comeback to tie the score, Jonathan Lucroy finished the job with the bases loaded in the 11th inning by crushing a pitch from Eduardo Paredes off the wall in center field for a walk-off single in Sunday’s 6-5 extra-innings victory over the Los Angeles Angels in front of 21,217 fans at the Coliseum.
It was the A’s (36-36) second consecutive win over the Angels to give them the series victory. Not only did the win bring the A’s back to .500 on the season, it also gave them a .500 homestand, which seemed like a pipe dream after getting swept in a brutal three-game series against the Houston Astros earlier in the
week, a series which also saw them lose one of their top players in Matt Chapman to injury.
There was nothing easy about this win. Lucroy described it as a “grinder.” It’s the type of win the A’s hope gives them some confidence as they head to San Diego for the start of a three-city, 10-game trip against the Padres, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers.
“We needed this,” Lucroy said. “We had some good teams come in here. The Astros, look at what they’re doing right now. And then these guys are pretty good, too. For us to be able to take two out of three from them and try to make up for that Astros series was huge for us.”
With the A’s trailing by two runs entering the bottom of the ninth, Marcus Semien got the rally going as he blasted a first-pitch fastball from Blake Parker off the foul pole in left for a solo homer to bring the A’s within a run. With the A’s down to their final out with runners on first and second, a bloop by Mark Canha landed between Ian Kinsler and Mike Trout in shallow center field for a single that scored Dustin Fowler to tie the score.
Canha got it done at the plate throughout the game, going 2 for 4 with a two-run homer, his eighth of the season, to left off Andrew Heaney in the second.
But a fantastic play on defense highlighted his day.
With Blake Treinen on the mound, trying to keep the score tied with one out in the 10th, Andrelton Simmons smoked a ball that looked like it would be at least a double off the wall in left field. According to statcast, the ball had just a 5 percent probability of getting caught. But Canha sprinted seemingly out of nowhere to make a running catch, colliding against the wall and keeping the speedy Simmons off the bases.
“I didn’t think it was going out, but I didn’t think he had a chance to catch that ball,” A’s manager Doug Melvin said. “That might have been the best play we’ve seen him make, and he’s made some pretty good plays this year.”
Canha wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to get to the ball off the crack of the bat, but after lifting his head for a split-second to get an idea where the ball was going, he knew he had a chance.
“I told myself I was gonna catch that ball or hurt my neck trying,” Canha said. “As I was running I kind of put my head down and took a peak and thought to myself, ‘I can get to this ball.’”
Daniel Mengden’s issues with the long ball continued. The right-hander surrendered two more solo home runs to Chris Young and Albert Pujols on Sunday. The home run by Pujols in the sixth put the Angels (38-34) ahead by a run and was Mengden’s eighth home run allowed in June, the most allowed this month by a major league pitcher.
Despite the home runs, it was still a better outing than his previous two in which he failed to reach five innings. Mengden allowed four runs on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.
“He’s gone through a tough patch and maybe isn’t getting the ball down like we’ve seen it in the past,” Melvin said. “It’s like a first step out of a struggle. You keep your team in the game. It’s a good step in the right direction for him.”