Minnesota Twins Max Kepler gets doused with ice cold water from his teammates after getting the walk off hit in the tenth inning against the Oakland A’s at Target Field in Minneapolis on Fri Jun 14, 2024 (AP News photo)
By Daniel Dullum
Friday, June 14, 2024
MINNEAPOLIS – Victories have been tough to come by for Oakland of late, and Friday’s 6-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins at Target Field was another tough loss to swallow.
Max Kepler delivered a single to right in the bottom of the 10th inning, driving in designated runner Austin Martin with the winning run, sending the Athletics to their 10th defeat in their last 12 games. It’s Oakland’s seventh consecutive loss.
“It’s a tough loss,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “These guys are giving everything they have in terms of execution and making plays. But we’ve got to make plays because we’re costing ourselves wins.
“When we were winning games and closing games out, we were executing fundamentally and playing good defense. We were holding onto leads, something we haven’t done in the last 12 days.”
The A’s took a 5-4 lead in the seventh when JJ Bleday was hit by a pitch with one out and scored on Brent Rooker’s triple to center. Minnesota tied the game again at 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth on a bases-loaded RBI walk to Carlos Santana.
The Twins loaded the bases with one out when Correa reached on an infield error, Max Kepler was hit by a pitch and Jose Miranda drew a walk prior to Santana’s base-on-balls off A’s closer Mason Miller, who then retired the Twins in order in the ninth, sending the game to extra innings.
“That was a tough spot to bring Mason in. The walk is something he hasn’t done much in the past,” Kotsay said. “After that walk, he got the last two outs and got out of a big jam. Mason’s ninth inning was solid. At that point, his job is done and anything can happen in extra innings.”
Oakland jumped to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first on Shea Langelier’s two-out grand slam off Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson. Max Schuemann and Bleday drew walks to open the inning, and Miguel Andujar reached on an infield single, setting up Langelier’s 13th home run of the season.
“You just try to come through in certain situations and try to put up crooked numbers,” Langelier said. “It did feel good to get that one there.”
The Twins got a run back in the second when Santana singled and scored on a triple to center by Byron Buxton. Minnesota tied the game at 4-4 on Kepler’s three-run homer that traveled 426 feet to right-center.
Mitch Spence worked the first 5 2/3 innings for Oakland, giving up four runs on nine hits while striking out three with a walk. Miller was tagged with a blown save in his 1 2/3 innings, and Scott Alexander (0-2) took the loss.
The Twins used five pitchers – Jhoan Duran (2-2) threw a scoreless ninth and 10th innings for the win in front of the Twins’ largest crowd of the season – 35,631.
On the A’s recent lack of success, Langeliers concluded, “We’ve just got to stay together. This is a close-knit bunch of guys and it’s all about camaraderie and team chemistry. We have each other’s backs and we fight for each other.
“Baseball is tough and things aren’t quite going our way right now. We’ll stay together and grind our way through this.”
The A’s and Twins meet again Saturday at 11:10 Pacific. Joey Estes (2-2, 4.78) starts for Oakland while Minnesota counters with Bailey Ober (5-4, 5.13) in a battle of right-handers.
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