Photo courtesy of Oakland Athletics.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

OAKLAND- The A’s and Royals battled it out in a night game that went down to the wire but ended on a walk-off by Brent Rooker 6-4.

Getting the start for the Royals was left hander Tucker Davidson while for the A’s Paul Blackburn was on the mound.

The first baserunner for the A’s got on in an interesting fashion as Esteury Ruiz reached on catcher interference. Despite Ruiz then managing to steal his way to third the A’s got no runs in the inning as Aledmys Diaz lined out to end the first.

In the second MJ Melendez got a triple and then Freddy Fermin got out on a sacrifice fly knocking home a run.

The bottom of the second saw the first pitching change of the game as Taylor Hearn came in to replace Davidson. After Seth Brown struck out it brought up Jordan Diaz who smoked one to center field tying the game up at one. The solo shot exited the park at 103.3 mph and went 383 ft.

The third saw Oakland’s offense strike once again as Zack Gelof leading off the inning struck one to center field and over the wall giving them a one run lead.

Looking to tack on to their lead in the fifth Ryan Noda got a single and Brent Rooker was hit by a pitch getting two on with only one out. After Diaz flied out Seth Brown singled getting Noda home and extending their lead to 3-1.

The Royals got some run support in the sixth as Bobby Witt Jr. got a solo shot which was his 25th of the season. Countering in the bottom of the inning was Shea Langeliers who hit his own solo shot that was his 12th homer of the season.

In the seventh Blackburn’s night came to an end as he finished the game giving up only two earned runs, four hits, and striking out six. He was replaced by Kirby Snead who pitched until the eighth when he was taken out in favor of Lucas Erceg.

Erceg’s night did not get off to a great start as Matt Beaty got a double and Kyle Isbel drew a walk. A wild pitch then got Beaty to third and on sacrifice fly Beaty made it home making it a 4-3 game.

With the pressure bearing down Erceg was able to get it down to two outs but despite that Michael Massey singled trying the game up at four. After the run knocked in Erceg was taken out and replaced by Dany Jimenez who did not have to pitch long as Langeliers threw out Massey who was trying to steal.

The white-and-green kept the the game tied until the bottom of the ninth as they came up to bat.

Facing the A’s batters was right-hander Dylan Coleman who was facing Noda first.

That at-bat did not go Coleman’s way as he hit Noda with a pitch bringing up the on fire Rooker. After two pitches taken for balls Coleman threw a 89 mph slider right at the heart of the plate and Rooker did not miss. He launched it to center field walking it off and getting the A’s their 35th win of the season.

Trevor May got the win for the A’s bringing his record to 4-4 while Coleman took the loss making his record 0-2.

The A’s next game will be the second of this three game home series against the Royals at 6:40 p.m.