Oakland A’s Daz Cameron watches the flight of his home run ball in the bottom of the ninth to tie up the ball game 5-5 at the time against the Colorado Rockies at the Oakland Coliseum on Thu May 23, 2024 (AP News photo)
Thursday, May 23, 2024
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Oakland, California
Colorado Rockies 9 (16-33)
Oakland Athletics 10 (21-31)
Win: Brandon Bielak (1-0)
Loss: Peter Lambert (2-3)
Time: 3:12
Attendance: 6,886
By Stephen Ruderman
OAKLAND–The A’s fought and came out of an unbelievable 11-inning thriller on top, as they came back from two separate four-run deficits, and they scored five runs in the bottom of the 11th inning to beat the Colorado Rockies by a final of 10-9.
After dropping a tough one in 12 innings Wednesday night, the A’s hoped to bounce back with a series win over the Rockies in what was shaping up to be a casual Thursday afternoon affair at the Oakland Coliseum. It was a beautiful day for a ballgame, as busloads of kids who are getting out of school came to take in this one.
Joey Estes would take the mound for Oakland Thursday afternoon, and he would have a rough time getting things going in the top of the first inning.
Ezequiel Tovar hit a double to left-center field to start the ballgame. Jake Cave struck out swinging, and Ryan McMahon lined out to JJ Bleday out in left-center, but when Bleday through the ball back to second base, he ended up throwing the ball all the way into the Rockies’ dugout on the first base side of the Coliseum, which allowed Tovar to score the game’s first run.
The good news for the A’s was that the bases were empty with two outs. However, the Rockies kept things going, as Elehuris Montero doubled to left, and Brenton Doyle knocked in Montero with a double of his own to make it 2-0. It was the second day in a row that the Rockies scored two runs in the top of the first inning.
Ryan Feltner made the start for Colorado and pitched a scoreless bottom of the first. The A’s threatened off Feltner in the bottom of the second, when J.D. Davis singled to start the inning and Kyle McCann doubled him to third with one out.
Daz Cameron flew out to right for the second out, but it wasn’t deep enough for Davis to try and score. However, when the throw from Rockies’ right-fielder Jake Cave sailed by catcher Jacob Stallings, fans at the Coliseum expressed their displeasure at Davis for not scoring. Max Schuemann then struck out swinging to end the inning, and the A’s came up empty handed.
As for Estes, he settled down. In fact, when he got Jacob Stallings to ground out to end the top of the first inning, that started a streak of 13-straight guys that Estes retired.
Seth Brown doubled to lead off the bottom of the fourth, and the A’s ended up loading the bases with one out. However, like the bottom of the second, the A’s would waste this opportunity as well. Cameron and Schuemann each flew out, and the Rockies kept their 2-0 lead going to the fifth.
Estes’ streak came to an end when Tovar hit his second double of the game to lead off the top of the sixth. Cave then lined a single to right to put runners at the corners with nobody out.
Things then got weird when McMahon hit a high soaring pop up to shallow center field that drew in a whole group of A’s defenders. Shortstop Max Schuemann dropped the ball, which then deflected to right-fielder Seth Brown, who threw to second-baseman Zack Gelof to get cave on the force play. Tovar came in to score to make it 3-0 Rockies.
The play was ruled a 6-9-4 fielder’s choice and an RBI for McMahon. Ironically, the fact that Cave was thrown out at second is most likely what gave McMahon an RBI, as had everybody been safe, the play would have likely been ruled an error on Schuemann, and McMahon would not have gotten an RBI.
Montero came up and also hit a pop up, this one to left, and left-fielder Daz Cameron, who initially broke back, came in and couldn’t get it on the dive. This one would be ruled a hit. Doyle hit another pop up, but this one would be caught by Schuemann at short for the second out.
Stallings then lined a base-hit to left. McMahon was waved in, and Cameron’s throw to the plate appeared as if it was going to make it a close play at the plate. The throw was cut off by third-baseman Abraham Toro, who threw to the shortstop, Schuemann, who was covering third, to nail Montero to end the inning. McMahon crossed the plate before the final put was made, so the run scored, and it was 4-0.
The weirdest part of that inning was the fact that Estes only threw 10 pitches that entire inning. No at-bat in that inning lasted more than three pitches.
Feltner responded by throwing a shutdown 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the sixth. Estes then came back out for one last inning in the top of the seventh and threw a 1-2-3 inning.
The game was going rather quickly, as Victor Vodnik came in for Colorado in the bottom of the seventh, and the A’s finally got something going. Kyle McCann led off the inning with a double to right. Cameron reached on an infield hit to put runners at the corners, and Schuemann lined a base-hit up the middle to center to score McCann and put the A’s on the board.
Scott Alexander came in for Oakland in the eighth and threw a 1-2-3 inning. Seth Brown singled off Tyler Kinley with one out in the bottom of the eighth, and Davis hit a home run to left-center to make it a one-run game at 4-3.
Michael Kelly pitched a 1-2-3 inning for Oakland in the top of the ninth, and the A’s came up for one last shot in the bottom of the inning against Jalen Beeks.
Daz Cameron, who was called up just this morning from the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators, and who heard the news this morning from Tacoma, Washington and had to catch an early morning flight from Seattle, hit a home run to left-center in his A’s debut to tie the game to start the bottom of the ninth.
“Have you ever heard of ‘snap, crackle, pop?’ That’s exactly what it feels like,” said Cameron. “Popping a ball off the really fat part of the bat…..it was a good feeling.”
It was quite a day for Cameron, who was playing his first major league game since Aug. 7, 2022, when he was a member of the Detroit Tigers.
“He’s been killing Triple-A,” said Manager Mark Kotsay. “[He took] a 5:30 flight from Seattle to Oakland [and was] in the lineup. I met him midway through my workout this morning, [I] told [him] he was in the lineup and he just kinda blank stared me and didn’t realize what was going on, because I was pretty intense at that moment. So it’s always that way, but for him to come through [with] a big homer to tie it in the ninth, it was great to see from him.”
Schuemann immediately followed up Cameron’s home run with a base-hit, and with two outs, he stole second. Brent Rooker then drew a walk from Justin Lawrence, but Brown softly lined out to second-baseman Alan Trejo in shallow right-center.
For the second day in a row, the A’s came back to force the game into extra innings. Mason Miller pitched in the top of the 10th, and the Rockies retook the lead on a sacrifice fly to center by Jordan Beck. The inning ended when Elias Diaz pinch-hit for Trejo and lined out to Davis, who very casually stepped on the bag to double off Kris Bryant at first to end the inning.
Lawrence stayed out for the Rockies in the bottom of the 10th. Gelof singled in Brown, the automatic runner, with one out to tie it again. McCann walked, and the A’s had another chance to win it, but Cameron grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
It was now off to the 11th, and Miller came back out for a second inning of work. Cave singled in Diaz, the automatic runner, to put the Rockies back ahead 6-5.
Things then completely fell apart for Miller and the A’s. With Cave at second and Charlie Blackmon at first with two outs, a wild pitch from Miller moved the runners to second and third. Doyle then singled deep into the hole at short to score Cave and make it 7-5. If it wasn’t for the wild pitch, Schuemann would have had an easy force play at second, but with that out of the picture, Doyle was able to beat out the long throw.
“I think [Miller] left a lot of pitches in the middle of the plate,” said Kotsay. “Even though he’s got dominant stuff, there’s going to be days when hitters [hit his stuff] when it’s over the middle…..you’re going to have days like that. Now, it’s about bouncing back for Mason.”
The Rockies continued to add on after Brandon Bielak came in for Miller. Brendan Rodgers lined a double down the left field line to score a pair and open Colorado’s lead to 9-5.
It was the exact same situation as last night. The Rockies scored two in the first inning, and the A’s came back to tie the game and force it into extra innings, but the Rockies were prepared to win another one. It seemed all but over for the A’s, but they continued to fight and refused to give in.
Matt Koch was the new pitcher for Colorado, and Cameron was the automatic runner at second. The A’s showed right away that they were indeed going to keep fighting, as Schuemann led off the inning and lined a double down the left field line to score Cameron and make it 9-6.
Toro singled on a ground ball to right to knock in Schuemann and make it 9-7, and then JJ Bleday tied the game with a home run to right-center.
What was a quick midweek afternoon affair quickly turned into a long and drawn-out thriller. Peter Lambert came in for Koch, and Brown lined an opposite-field base-hit to left with one out. Davis struck out looking for the second out, but on the third strike, Brown stole second. Gelof then hit a ground ball into the whole at short that seemed destined for left field, but Tovar dove to his right to keep it in the infield.
Rockies Manager Bud Black chose to intentionally walk McCann to load the bases, and Kotsay countered by pinch-hitting Tyler Soderstrom for Daz Cameron. It was a bold move to pinch-hit for the man who hit the ninth-inning game-tying home run in his A’s debate, but Kotsay’s move paid off, as Soderstrom walked on four pitches to end it, and the A’s someway and somehow came back with five runs in the bottom of the 11th to win this wild thriller by a final of 10-9.
“These guys in there, they don’t quit, and today’s an example of that,” said Kotsay. “The unity that they’ve stuck together, the teamwork that they’ve created [and] the culture in there came out today…..last road trip, they got together after we left Baltimore and talked about those specific things…..we got off that road trip with a day off, and I know a lot of the guys spent the day together bonding, creating friendship and that unity. I think today was a perfect example of it.”
Brandon Bielak ended up getting the win for Oakland, and Peter Lambert took the loss for Colorado.
The A’s improve to 21-31, and they have won their first series since taking two of three from the Miami Marlins two and a half weeks ago. They will welcome the Houston Astros into the Coliseum for three games starting Friday night. This will be a chance at retribution for the A’s, who were swept out of Houston in four games by the Astros when the two teams met at Minute Maid Park last week.
“We’re gonna enjoy this one,” said Kotsay. “I don’t want to look past this one yet, because it feels too good.”
“We want another opportunity to play [the Astros],” Kotsay continued. “They’ve had our number for a little while…..every series is [a] challenge, but I think [our] guys know where we’re at, and [we have an] opportunity to go out and play against the best.”
Ross Stripling (1-8, ERA 5.19) will be on the mound for the A’s, and he will be up against Justin Verlander (2-2, ERA 3.97) who will be going for Houston. First pitch will be at 6:40 p.m.
