OAKLAND, Calif. _ Manager Bob Melvin became the 64th manager in baseball history to win 1,000 games, but the win didn't come easy.
On the day legendary A's broadcaster Bill King was honored by the Hall of Fame with the Frick Award for broadcasting, the Oakland A's ended Saturday's game with a finish that was worthy of his famous 'Holy Toledo!' call.
Trailing the Minnesota Twins 4-3 in the ninth, Rajai Davis blasted a walk-off two-run home run off Taylor Rogers to send his manager into the history books. Adam Rosales hit for Jaycob Brugman and led off with a walk to set up the grand finale that also snapped the A's six-game losing streak.
Starter Chris Smith clearly did not have his best stuff, but he gave the A's five solid innings and allowed four run on seven hits to keep the A's in the game.
On what was Witches and Wizards fireworks night at the Coliseum, Smith did his best Harry Potter impersonation in the second. After allowing the first five Twins batters to reach base, resulting in two runs and summoning pitching coach Scott Emerson from the dugout for a talk, Smith worked some magic. With the bases loaded and no outs, Smith got Brian Dozier to ground into a force out at home and struck out Max Kepler and Miguel Sano to escape the inning only allowing the two runs to score to keep the A's deficit at 2-1.
Smith ran into trouble again in the fifth. After allowing a lead off single to Max Kepler, Smith surrendered a two-run home run to Miguel Sano. It was Sano's 24th home run of the season and it gave the Twins a 4-1 lead.
The A's had plenty of chances to score before the late heroics, including perhaps their best opportunity in the second inning. After Yonder Alonso led off with a walk, the A's loaded the bases with two outs, but a pop out in foul territory by Marcus Semien ended any chance of a big inning from happening.
The A's cut into the lead in the bottom half of the fifth on an RBI single from Yonder Alonso and again in the eighth when Matt Chapman blasted a solo home run into the left field bleachers.
