The Oakland A’s JJ Bleday runs the bases after hitting a grand slam home run in the top of the fourth inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field in New York on Thu Aug 15, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

NEW YORK. — The Oakland Athletics beat the New York Mets 7-6 in the longest game of pitch clock era on Thursday afternoon to win the interleague series 2-1.

The 3 hour and 45-minute game at Citi Field “felt like the longest game”, said A’s manager Mark Kotsay. He added that it was a “grind in every way” but an “incredible team win that took basically almost the whole roster”.

A’s starting pitcher Mitch Spence “didn’t have his best stuff” and his pitch count was high in less than three innings, meaning that Oakland had to go to the bullpen earlier than normal, Kotsay said. But the bullpen delivered.

New York took the lead in the second inning after a wild pitch by Spence that allowed Pete Alonso to score.

In the third inning, Mark Vientos hit a home run on a fly ball to right center field and Francisco Lindor scored, boosting the Mets up 3-0. Then Luis Torrens singled on a line drive to left field and J.D. Martinez and Alonso scored, expanding New York’s lead to 5-0.

But the A’s stepped it up in the fourth inning as JJ Bleday hit a grand slam to right field allowing Max Schuemann, Daz Cameron and Miguel Andujar to score and cutting the Mets’ lead to 5-4.

The Bleday grand slam “jump started the offense” and got the A’s back in the game.

“When we took the lead, we felt confident that the bullpen was going to be able to hold on,” Kotsay said.

At the bottom of the fourth, Vientos responded with a home run on a fly ball to right field to put the Mets up 6-4. But a wild pitch by reliever Huascar Brazoban allowed Zack Gelof to score and put the A’s within one run.

In the sixth inning, Tyler Nevin grounded out and Bleday scored, tying the game. Then Seth Brown singled on a sharp ground ball to right field and Shea Langeliers scored, giving Oakland a 7-6 lead.

“It was a whirlwind,” said Bleday. “It was a hot one, it was a grind, it was a lot of pitches on both sides… but we had a lot of opportunities throughout the game and we took advantage of it and kept chipping away, and this was a good team effort, a good team win.”

Spence had his shortest outing as a starting pitcher this season.

“It was a big day, a day game playing a good team,” he said, adding it was a good feeling to “come out on top and take the series”.

The A’s (51-71) have won or split seven of their eight series since the All-Star Break.

Meanwhile, the Mets (62-59) suffered their first loss at home since June 28 to 30 when they lost two games in the series against the Houston Astros.

The A’s return home to host the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, with first pitch at 4:07 p.m. PT.