(nbcsports.com photo) The Oakland A’s Matt Olson (28) lays some good wood off of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Hoby Milner in the 10th inning for a walk off grand slam four run win to open the four game series at the Oakland Coliseum on Fri Jul 24, 2020

Opening Day At the Coliseum Oakland A’s vs Los Angeles Angels

By Barbara Mason

It’s been a long time coming. The hoops that MLB had to jump through were unprecedented. We haven’t seen the likes of a virus that we are now seeing in most of our lifetimes. Despite all of that MLB and the Players Association plowed through all the red tape and we have come out of the other end of a very long tunnel. The prize is the start of the 2020 baseball season and it’s good, it’s very good for the entire nation. We need sports, not just the fans but the entire nation for not only our entertainment but for our sanity.

Tonight’s game is not your run of the mill opening day of baseball that we have seen for years, it’s much more than that. So with that being said let’s escape for just a few hours and PLAY BALL!

The A’s come into this opening game after losing a pair to the San Francisco Giants in a vastly shortened pre-season. They now take on Mike Trout and the Angels for four games at the Oakland Coliseum to open their season. A very tough start for the A’s but this is a young talented team that is looking forward to the challenge.

The powerful Frankie Montas started the game for Oakland hoping for good control along with the speed that he always pitches with. Montas got out of a sticky situation in the first inning striking Albert Pujols out with the bases loaded and the A’s dodged the early bullet. The first inning was a tough one for Montas throwing 27 pitches. Through 3 innings Montas had thrown 55 pitches and had settled in nicely. The game remained scoreless going into the 4th inning.

The Angels would break through in the 4th inning taking a 1-0 lead off a single by Brian Goodwin driving in Pujols. The A’s would tie up the game when Ramon Laureano homered to right for the 1-1 score going into the 5th inning. Montas would come out of the game with 81 pitches and it would be Yusmeiro Petit on the mound. The A’s would load the bases in the 5th inning with Marcus Simien at the plate but would come away empty. Both teams had had excellent scoring opportunities that came up empty.

TJ McFarland would pitch to start the 6th inning. Soria would take over in the 7th. A sacrifice fly by the Angel’s David Fletcher brought in Simmons to break the tie and give the Angel’s a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the 7th inning. The play that would haunt the A’s was an error by Matt Chapman throwing to Matt Olson that missed it’s mark.

The 8th inning would see Jake Diekman come into the game as the A’s were running out of time. It would be a quick inning for the Oakland defense going into the bottom of the 8th. Ramon Laureano would come up with another big hit, down the right field line allowing Marcus Semien to score and tie up the game 2-2. More than making up for his error Matt Chapman hit a deep triple center field as Laureano scored giving the A’s their first lead of the night 3-2. Chapman would get picked off third trying for home in a tough outing for Chapman.

Liem Hendriks would come in to close for the A’s in the top of the 9th inning. He would face Pujols, Jason Castro and Goodwin. The Angels would tie up the game on a homer by Castro 3-3. The A’s would now be looking for a walk-off. While Mark Canha was able to get on base that was all the A’s could muster. The game would go into extra innings.

In extra innings a runner would start on second base. The A’s Burch Smith would pitch to start the 10th inning for the A’s. The Angels were unable to do much of anything in the 10th and so the A’s Marcus Semien would start on second base in the bottom of the 10th. With the bases loaded and 1 out Matt Olson had the opportunity to close out this game which was right about the 4 hour mark. The hero of the A’s opener was Matt Olson with a grand slam winning the game off the first pitch 7-3. The win included a gatorade bath for Olson as Oakland takes the extra inning win.