Oakland 3, Minnesota 2
When: 9:05 PM ET, Saturday, September 22, 2018
Where: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California
Temperature:
64°
Umpires:
Home -
Bill Welke, 1B -
Tony Randazzo, 2B -
Nick Mahrley, 3B -
Lance Barrett
Attendance:
36731
By Field Level Media
The Oakland Athletics recorded their second consecutive walk-off win Saturday night, scoring the game-ending run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning on a wild pitch by Minnesota Twins reliever Trevor Hildenberger in a 3-2 win at Oakland, Calif.
The result lowered Oakland's magic number for clinching an American League playoff spot to one. A win by the A's (91-64) on Sunday or a loss by the Tampa Bay Rays (86-68) at Toronto would assure Oakland's first trip to the playoffs since 2014.
Stephen Piscotty led off the ninth in a 2-2 tie with a double, then advanced to third on a one-out throwing error by Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco.
After Matt Joyce was intentionally walked to load the bases, Hildenberger (4-5) got within one out of forcing extra innings when he struck out Mark Canha.
However, with Matt Chapman at the plate, Hildenberger uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Piscotty to scamper home with the game-winning run.
The consecutive walk-offs were the Athletics' second set of the season. They also walked off the San Francisco Giants in consecutive home games in July.
Oakland topped Minnesota 7-6 on Friday thanks to Khris Davis' game-ending homer in the 10th inning.
A's closer Blake Treinen (9-2) got a win for the second consecutive night with one inning of one-hit relief. Only Tampa Bay's Ryan Yarbrough (13) has more relief wins in the AL this season.
The A's trailed 1-0 until Marcus Semien hit a two-run homer off Twins starter Chase De Jong with one out in the fifth. The homer, Semien's 13th of the season, followed a one-out single by Ramon Laureano.
De Jong was pulled one batter later, charged with two runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked one and did not strike out a batter.
A's starter Mike Fiers left with a 2-1 lead after working six innings, allowing one run and four hits. He walked one and struck out five.
The Twins tied the game against the Oakland bullpen in the seventh when Ehire Adrianza hit a one-out double and scored on Willians Astudillo's single.
Jonathan Lucroy had two hits for the A's, who won their fourth straight. Oakland trails the New York Yankees (95-59) by 1 1/2 games in the race for the first AL wild card.
Astudillo collected three hits for the Twins, who fell to 1-5 against the A's this season.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Minnesota |
|
Oakland |
|
Chase De Jong
|
Player |
Mike Fiers
|
|
No Decision |
W/L |
No Decision |
|
4.1 |
IP |
6.0 |
|
0 |
Strikeouts |
5 |
|
5 |
Hits |
4 |
|
4.15 |
ERA |
1.50 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Minnesota
|
7 |
0 |
9 |
.219 |
10 |
6 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
| Oakland
|
8 |
1 |
13 |
.242 |
18 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
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