For the second night in a row, the Athletics walked off against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday at the Oakland Coliseum in yet another 10-inning extravaganza.
Except this time, the A’s accomplished a second feat on top of their hard-earned 2-1 win as their pitchers stifled Shohei Ohtani’s bat and brought his 18-game hitting streak to an end.
Ohtani’s last chance to extend his streak to 19 games came with the game on the line in the top of the 10th inning tied at one apiece. And he nearly delivered, but an incredible catch by Seth Brown near the wall in left-center field saved a pair of runs from scoring and ended the inning.
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But as Brown said on “A’s Postgame Live” following the win, he knew exactly what to expect from the Angels slugger. Even though A’s starter Cole Irvin plunked Ohtani on his right arm in the third inning, he still had plenty of warning-track power left by the time the eighth inning rolled around.
“[Ohtani] does a phenomenal job of staying on balls and hitting them in the gap, and he’s done it a lot to us this year,” Brown said. “I told [right fielder Chad Pinder] before that at-bat that I was going to be over in that gap.
“And with [A.J.] Puk [pitching], he’s coming across at a hard angle so in my mind, [Ohtani’s] either going to pull one hard or he’s going to go with one, and so I just wanted to shave that gap a little bit and it kind of was hit at a perfect spot for me to get a good read on it and be able to make a play.”
And make a play Brown did -- not his first big moment of the game, either. His eighth-inning single scored Tony Kemp and tied the game 1-1, and his catch two innings later set the stage for Shea Langeliers to draw a walk with the bases loaded in the 10th and send the A’s home happy.
Irvin was another bright spot in Tuesday’s win, surrendering just four hits and no earned runs across six innings of work.
With just one game left in the regular season, Oakland’s year didn’t quite go the way the team had hoped. But with plenty of youth on the roster and a couple of promising games against the Angels under their belts this week, it’s Brown’s hope that the A’s can build on the fight they’ve shown against Los Angeles and carry that momentum into next season.
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“We’ve been talking about it for a few weeks,” Brown said. “We’ve got to start building for next year and carry a good mindset and a gritty attitude out here. And the boys have responded. It's awesome.
“[The] clubhouse is tight. We've got a good group of guys out here, a lot of young guys, and for them to come out here and continue to fight .. We’re game 161 and not giving in. It’s just good to see. We’re trying to build something here and carry it on to next year.”
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As the A’s prepare for their season finale against the Angels on Wednesday afternoon at the Coliseum, there’s plenty for the team to be proud of.
And moving forward, there’s certainly more fight to be expected.