Zack Gelof hit a home run early in the game, and Max Schuemann and Nick Allen each drove in runs with bunts in the 12th inning, leading the Oakland Athletics to a 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.
With the game tied 2-2, Daz Cameron’s bunt single at the start of the 12th inning advanced Gelof, the automatic runner, to third base.
Schuemann then bunted the ball to Héctor Neris (9-5), who made a bad throw home, allowing Gelof to score on the sacrifice. The error allowed Cameron to advance to third base as the ball rolled into the field.
With runners on the corners, Allen bunted to force out Cameron, which brought Cameron in to score, giving the Athletics a 4-2 lead.
“That was well-executed,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “Obviously Daz was bunting for a hit… We had a couple of guys up there that can bunt and they do a good job with it with Schuemann and Allen. We took our chances there getting a run.”
Houston manager Joe Espada was unhappy with his team’s defense during the 12th inning.
“We just didn’t do a good job of handling the ball there in that inning,” Espada said.
Jose Altuve hit an RBI double to start the bottom of the 12th off Hogan Harris (4-3), who then retired the next three batters. Houston was 2 for 17 with runners in scoring position.
“We battled to the end,” Espada said. “We had the right guys at the plate when we wanted to and we just couldn’t — it was just one of those games.” Bryan Abreu struck out the side in the 11th inning for Houston.
In the 10th inning, Houston had a runner on third base with two outs when Jeremy Peña hit a fly ball to right field. However, Cameron made a diving catch to prevent a hit and end the inning.
“Right away I thought to myself (go) in, and I made a sick catch,” Cameron said. “The ball was tailing away and I dove at it and caught it. It was good knowing it kept us in the game to win it.”
Jacob Wilson’s sacrifice bunt advanced the automatic runner to third base to start the 10th inning, but Abreu struck out the next two batters.
Altuve hit a single off Scott Alexander with two outs in the ninth inning. Yordan Alvarez then moved him to third with a groundball single that got past the diving second baseman, Gelof. However, Alexander struck out Tucker to send the game into extra innings.
In the seventh inning, with one out and a runner on first, pinch-hitter Jon Singleton hit his first career triple off the wall in left-center, which reduced the lead to 2-1. Pinch-runner Jason Heyward replaced Singleton and scored when Altuve hit a bloop single to shallow center field, tying the game.
Oakland’s starter JP Sears pitched six scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti matched a season high by giving up seven hits and two runs in 6 2/3 innings. This was his first start since giving up nine runs — three earned — and getting only two outs in a 12-5 loss to the Reds.
Brent Rooker hit a one-out single in the first inning and advanced to third base on a single by J.J. Bleday. The Athletics took the lead when Rooker scored on a sacrifice fly by Shea Langeliers.
Oakland added to their lead in the second inning when Gelof hit the first pitch over the train tracks atop left field for his 17th home run of the season.
