San Diego Padres Fernando Tatis celebrates scoring on Jurickson Profar’s base hit against the Oakland A’s in the bottom of the fifth inning at Petco Park in San Diego on Tue Jun 11, 2024 (AP News photo)
By Barbara Mason
After tying up this game in the eighth inning 3-3 off a 2-run homer from Tyler Soderstrom, the Oakland A’s (26-43) were gunning to take the lead in the top of the ninth inning. The team worked hard to tie up the game only to lose it in the bottom of the ninth when the San Diego Padres (36-35) walked it off; the final score 4-3. This was a very competitive game for Oakland that ended on a very sour note. The A’s Scott Alexander gave up the home run to Kyle Higashioka for the San Diego win.
Game recap: As in Monday nights game, the A’s took the early lead, a 1-0 score going into the bottom of the fifth inning. The A’s continue hitting home runs, the first one in this game off the bat of Abraham Toro on the first pitch of the game.
There was not a lot of offense through the next three innings. for either team. The Padres had a productive fifth inning scoring three runs and taking a 3-1 lead into the sixth inning. Luis Arraez hit an infield single and Ha-Seong Kim scored to tie up the game 1-1. The Padres followed that up with a Jurickson Profar single bringing two runners home, Luis Arraez and Fernando Tatis Jr taking a 3-1 lead.
In the eighth inning the A’s fought back tying up this game with yet another Oakland home run. Tyler Soderstom hit a two-run homer with Miguel Andujar on base to tie up this game 3-3. Oakland kept the Padres off the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth and they would need some offense in the ninth inning.
They didn’t get the offense they so desperately needed. Abraham Toro lined out, Shea Langeliers flied out and Max Schuemann fouled out and that was the top of the ninth. They had to keep this game going and that meant keeping the Padres off the scoreboard in the bottom of the ninth, preventing the walk-off.
It all went so horribly wrong when Scott Alexander’s first pitch in the bottom of the ninth, a changeup, sailed out of the ball park off the bat of Kyle Higashioka. This was his first walk-off home run. The Padres had pulled off the walk-off winning the game 4-3.
The A’s were within striking distance in the later innings only to watch the long ball that would end any hope for a win for Oakland. This was one crazy game where the first pitch of the game and the last pitch of the game resulted in balls leaving the yard.
Game notes: After losing the first game of their series with the Padres , the A’s lost another one to the Padres at Petco Park. JP Sears who started for Oakland pitched five innings and gave up seven hits and three runs and yet it wasn’t enough for the A’s to get in the win column on Tuesday night. Oakland hung in Monday’s game taking an early lead in the second inning but fell apart for the rest of the game getting crushed 6-1.
The third game of the series is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at 1:10 PM as the A’s try to salvage this series with at least one win. Probable pitchers for this game will be Hogan Harris for Oakland with a 0-0, 2.21 ERA. The Padres will probably assign Michael King with a 5-4 win/loss record and a 3.58 ERA.
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