The Oakland A’s first baseman Tyler Soderstrom (21) sits frustrated after Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (16) interfered with a pop up in front of the Toronto Blue Jays dugout hit by teammate Davis Schneider in the top of the tenth at the Oakland Coliseum on Sun Jun 9, 2024 (AP News photo)

Sunday, June 9, 2024

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Oakland, California

Toronto Blue Jays 6 (32-33)

Oakland Athletics 4 (26-41)

Win: Yimi Garcia (3-0)

Loss: Austin Adams (0-2)

Save: Genesis Cabrera (1)

Time: 2:32

Attendance: 11,276

By Stephen Ruderman

OAKLAND–The A’s lost a tough one late, as after coming back to take a 3-2 lead, the A’s were unable to hold it, and the Toronto Blue Jays ended up scoring three runs in the top of the 10th inning to win it 6-4 and take the series

After getting shut out by Kevin Gausman Saturday, the A’s looked to bounce back and take the series against the Blue Jays with a win in the rubber match Sunday on a beautiful day gif baseball at the Coliseum. Doing the honors for the A’s on the mound today would be Mitch Spence.

Spence would be opposed by Bowden Francis, a reliever turned starter. Spence got two starts at the beginning of the season, but he was relegated back to the bullpen, and then went down due to injury. Today, Blue Jays Manager John Schneider gave Bowden a shot to come beck into rotation in what would be the latter’s third start of the season.

Spencer Horwitz singled to lead off the game for Toronto, and Vladimir Guerrero singled with one out. The Blue Jays had runners at first and second with one out, but Spence was able to get Bo Bichette to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Francis pitched a scoreless inning for Toronto in the bottom of the first. Spence was able to escape trouble without any damage in the top of the first, but he would not be as lucky in the top of the second.

Justin Turner lined a double to left field to start the second, and George lined a base-hit to left to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Springer stole second base, and Daulton Varsho struck out swinging. Isiah Kiner-Falefa then chopped a base-hit up the middle and into center field for a base-hit to score a pair and give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.

Daz Cameron lined a base-hit up the middle up lead off the bottom of the second, and Tyler Soderstrom grounded a single to right with one out, as the A’s had a real opportunity. However, nothing would come to pass, as Aledmys Diaz flew out to center, and Max Schuemann popped out to first to end the inning.

Kiner-Falefa was caught stealing at second to end the top of the second, but when Kevin Kiermaier lined out to center for the second out right beforehand, Spence went into a zone.

As for Francis, he was done after the A’s wasted a leadoff double by Miguel Andujar in the bottom of the fourth. Even though he only threw 49 pitches in four shutout innings, John Schneider did not want to stretch Francis out there too long.

Zach Pop was the new pitcher in the bottom of the fifth, and he struck out the side on 11 pitches. With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Brent Rooker hit a long home run off to left-center off Nate Pearson to put the A’s on the board.

Spence, meanwhile, would not allow another base-runner the rest of the day, and he retired the final 16 men he faced. However, he did get some help in his final inning in the top of the seventh. With one out, Turner lined a shot off the end of the bat the other way, and first-baseman Tyler Soderstrom dove to his right to catch it. George Springer then hit a soft ground ball to third that Abraham Toro charged and made a bare-handed pickup and throw on to end the inning.

Spence had a great outing, as he gave up two runs and five hits over a career-high seven innings.

“Great outing by Mitch,” said Manager Mark Kotsay. “We’ve talked a lot about him incorporating a sinker into his repertoire, and he did a nice job Sunday of doing that effectively. He battled [and] gave us seven innings. We could [not] have asked for a better start.”

“I kinda figured out [my sinker] today,” said Spence. “It hasn’t really been sinking, [but] today it was actually sinking, so it opens the inner half against righties. That pitch got me a lot of quick outs today. The problem’s kinda been is I get in the bullpen, it’s been really good, I get a good feel for it, but in the game, the intensity goes up, and there’s a little bit of a disconnect there. Today, I kinda figured that out. The biggest thing is I naturally cut everything, and I have to turn the sinker over.”

Trevor Richards came in for Toronto in the bottom of the seventh, and he immediately walked Soderstrom to start the inning. Diaz then lined a base-hit to left to put runners at first and second with no one out. Schuemann laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over to second.

That brought Abraham Toro to the plate. With the count 0-2, Toro reached out with a two-strike protect swing and poked a changeup off the end of the bat and into left-center for a base-hit that knocked in a pair to give the A’s their first lead of the game.

The A’s led 3-2 going to the eighth, and they were six outs away from the series win. However, the Blue Jays would strike right back against left-hander Scott Alexander, who Kotsay went to for the top of the eighth.

Varsho lined a base-hit to right to start the inning, and Kiner-Falefa laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Varsho to second. Davis Schneider pinch-hit for Kiermier, and while Schneider was at the plate, Varsho stole third. That proved to be a huge play, as Schneider knocked in Varsho with a sacrifice fly to left to tie the game.

“The stolen base end[ed] up being a huge play and really determining the game,” said Kotsay. “Those are the small things that we talk about. [We’re] trying to learn from [them], to get better, and not allow those small details to have an impact on our game and our success.”

Chad Green, who finished the seventh for Trevor Richards, was back out for Toronto in the bottom of eighth, and he threw a 1-2-3 inning to send the game to the ninth still tied at 3-3.

Kotsay went to his closer, Mason Miller in the top of the ninth, something he could do comfortably in a tied game, because he was the home manager. Miller pitches a 1-2-3 top of the ninth, and Yimi Garcia pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth for the Blue Jays to send this one into extra innings.

It was now the 10th, and that meant that Bo Bichette, who was the final out of the top of the ninth, would be at second to start the top of the 10th. Kotsay went to Austin Adams, who walked Turner to start the inning. Ernie Clement came in to pinch-run for Turner, and Spinger lined out to left field for the first out. Adams hit Varsho to load the bases, and Kiner-Falefa made Adams pay by clearing the bases with a double to left-center that put Toronto back ahead 8-5.

“I don’t want to put a lot of pressure on Mason and wear him down with two innings,” said Kotsay. “[I] felt good about Adams. Obviously, we have felt good about Adams all year…..The 10th inning is always a crapshoot, especially with that runner starting at second base. Unfortunately, we gave up a couple of runs there.”

Davis Schneider was now at the plate, and as the Blue Jays looked to add on, he hit a high pop up towards the Blue Jays’ dugout in the first base side. Soderstrom chased it down in the humongous foul territory at the Coliseum, and just as he was about to get to it, Yusei Kikuchi, a starting pitcher for the Blue Jays, came out of the dugout at the very last second and prevented Soderstrom from catching it, which was clearly interference.

“[I] was just kinda in shock,” said Soderstrom. [I was] just trying to make a play on the ball. Last second, I tried to make a move to my left, and there was Kikuchi.”

“Obviously, I was embarrassed out there,” Kikuchi said through his translator. “I kind of realized last minute that the dugout in Oakland has no fence, and I realized that a little too late there…..After [that], I just wanted to create a little hole and hide inside it.

First Base Umpire and Crew Chief Chris Guccione very slowly called it a no-catch, but the rest of his crew quickly gathered with him, and they correctly called Schneider out on the interference. Hey, you come to the park, and you may see something you’ve never seen before.

Genesis Cabrera gave up an unearned run in a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th to end the game. Yes, you read that right: a run scored in a 1-2-3 inning, because of the automatic runner at second base, which in this case, was Max Schuemann.

Anyway, Yimi Garcia got the win; Austin Adams took the loss; and Genesis Cabrera picked up his first save of the season. The A’s fall to a new season-high 15 games under .500 at 26-41, and they will now hope for better fortunes on the road.

First, the A’s will head to San Diego for three against the Padres, and then they will head to Minneapolis for four against the Minnesota Twins. Oakland will open their three-game series against the Padres Monday night at Petco Park. Joey Estes (2-1, 4.67 ERA) will go for Oakland, and he will be opposed by Dylan Cease (5-5, 3.51 ERA) of the Padres. First pitch will be at 6:40 p.m.

A’s. First pitch will be at 1:07 p.m.