OAKLAND, Calif. — The Oakland A’s were on the precipice of losing in extras on consecutive nights, but the bottom of the A’s lineup came through to claim the ultimate lead in the 12th, winning 7-6 on Tony Kemp’s sacrifice fly on Saturday night.
With the A's down two runs in the bottom of the 12th, Seth Brown completed a three-hit night with an RBI single to score the designated runner from second and cut the lead to 6-5. Jed Lowrie's double then drove in Murphy, setting the stage for Kemp's heroics.
A four-hour plus game looked to have turned Boston’s way against reliever J.B. Wendelken with RBI singles from Marwin Gonzalez and Kiké Hernandez in the top of the 12th.
The A’s looked to have blown it in the 10th, when they managed to blow a bases-loaded, no-out opportunity. After Brown was intentionally walked, Lowrie singled to load the bases — but Kemp inexplicably bunted into a pop out and Elvis Andrus’ sacrifice fly turned into an out at home when left fielder J.D. Martinez nailed Sean Murphy at home.
Andrus came up clutch in the eighth inning with an RBI single to score Brown from third base and tie the score at 4.
With the A's down 4-2, Brown ignited the eighth-inning surge with an RBI double to score Murphy from first base — a rally that ended with a struggling Matt Olson flying out to the warning track with two runners on despite hitting the ball with a 104-mph exit velocity. Brown also scored Murphy from first on an RBI triple in the second inning.
Matt Chapman singled to lead off the bottom of the ninth and pinch-hitter Skye Bolt laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance him to scoring position. But Boston reliever Adam Ottavino retired Ramón Laureano and Murphy to send the game to extra innings.
Sergio Romo pitched a clean 10th inning with a little help from Murphy, who caught his second runner stealing third. Romo dealt 1 2/3 innings of scoreless ball with three strikeouts.
Frank Schwindel, who replaced Mitch Moreland in the lineup, hit an RBI double to score Matt Chapman from first for the A’s second run to chase Red Sox starter Garrett Richards out of the game.
Errors looked to be the A’s demise early. Kemp’s fielding error on Xander Bogaerts’ ground ball led to Rafael Devers’ sharp single in the fourth inning. Murphy’s aggressive attempt to pick off Devers at short skidded past Olson’s glove at first and scored a run. Hunter Renfroe’s sacrifice fly scored another to pin two unearned runs on A’s starter Cole Irvin.
Irvin gave up two earned runs. One on J.D. Martinez’s RBI single in the fifth inning and the other to Hernandez on a solo home run. Irvin went seven innings with five strikeouts and two walks — both to Hernandez, who is dominating this series after extinguishing the A’s extra-inning comeback with a perfect throw home in Friday’s game.
Irvin has a 2.66 ERA over his last six starts and Saturday’s game was his first loss since May 30 in a start against the Los Angeles Angels.
