A's Pull Out Another Walk-Off in 15 Inning Marathon

As I am writing this, it is already Tuesday morning in Oakland and mid-morning in Tampa Bay.

You can thank the A's and Rays for providing five hours of entertainment for all of us, a 15-inning affair that never seemed to end.

The A's scored the game's first two runs on RBI doubles by Chris Carter and Kurt Suzuki off Rays' starter David Price, and led 2-0 after two innings. But that didn't foreshadow what was to come.

Carlos Pena tied the game with a two-run double in the fourth, and the Rats would take a 3-2 lead on a home run by Matt Joyce in the sixth.

Price seemed dominant throughout, but the A's would capitalize on his mistakes. Brandon Hicks drove a fastball into the right center field bleachers in the seventh to tie the game at three.

Note that previous sentence, because it would be the last run scored by either team until the fifteenth inning.

In between, there was a lot of frustration, especially from the A's standpoint. Twice they had the based loaded in extra innings, but failed to score. They also set a dubious Oakland record with 20 strikeouts by hitters.

But their excellent bullpen kept the Rays offense at bay, setting the stage for another walk off.

Tampa sent their last reliever, Kyle Farnsworth, into the game in the fifteenth. The A's made sure that they wouldn't have to use a position player.

Brandon Inge singled to lead off the inning, and Kurt Suzuki advanced him to second with a bunt. Brandon Moss and Erik Sogard both walked, setting up a based loaded and one out situation for Jemile Weeks.

Weeks promptly delivered a sac fly to right field, scoring Inge and sending home a very tired and happy home crowd with their league-leading twelfth walk-off win.

Posted in: Oakland Athletics,Tampa Bay Rays