Walk-off! Jacob Wilson’s first sends A’s home winners

Huge moment during a huge series for a huge prospect

Oakland walked-off the rival Rangers on Tuesday night at the Coliseum, sending Texas packing with an RBI knock in the bottom of the ninth to take game one of the final series ever played by the Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum. Drink it all in, folks.

Tonight’s starting pitching duel saw an Oakland rookie facing a Texas veteran. While the Athletics went with first-year right-hander Mitch Spence to kick tonight off the Rangers had 13-year veteran Nathan Eovaldi on the mound for them in this one. Experience on the mound was not to Oakland’s advantage on the mound tonight.

Texas got the scoring started right away in the first when center fielder Adolis Garcia collected a 2-out RBI knock to give the Rangers an early lead. Two-out RBI’s always hurt more, don’t they? That said they should have kept it up against Spence because he would end up settling in after that first inning.

In the bottom half the team picked up its starting pitcher with some offense of their own. Leadoff man Lawrence Butler, who just had his on-base streak broken on Sunday, drew a walk to start the bottom of the frame and then proceeded to steal his 18th base of the year, continuing to build on his record of most steals without a caught stealing in A’s history. A couple outs later and the thought of stranding Butler in scoring position was creeping into fans’ minds, but Shea Langeliers made sure to cash in on the opportunity:

That’s RBI #76 for Langeliers here in his sophomore season and he continues to be a big bat in the middle of the Oakland order. What a difference a year makes. Was he going to be good enough to be a regular? What about Soderstrom coming up behind him? And Daniel Susac maybe? He’s put all those anxieties to rest with a tremendous season and he’s locked in as the starter next season, no doubt about it.

That wasn’t all! The guy who was on Langeliers’ heels last season came up next. Manning first base for tonight’s contest, former top prospect Tyler Soderstrom stepped up to the plate and made it back-to-back RBI doubles to take the lead from the rival Rangers:

That almost snuck out of here! Productive nonetheless and the lead was ours. Take that every time. Soderstrom hasn’t had the easiest transition to the big leagues. Blocked at his primary position, asked to learn another, called up and not finding immediate success, fans calling him a bust after 25 games and an injury. But this is the major leagues and no one is going to make it easier for Soderstrom. On the bright side of things he’s still shockingly young and also finishing this year strong, slashing .333/.385/.583 over his past seven contests. Small sample, yes. The offseason is right around the corner though and small wins is all we can get this late in the season.

A couple of quiet innings followed before Oakland scored their third run of the game on a JJ Bleday groundout that allowed Butler to score his second run of the game. A bit of extra room is always nice, especially when you’re struggling to get hits. At this point in the game the club only had three knocks against Eovaldi and they’d get harder to come by as the game progressed.

Texas answered back the next inning when Rangers first baseman Nate Lowe crushed a ball to center field for a no-doubter, cutting the lead to just one run for the home team. And then that run disappeared the next inning in the fifth when Spence plunked a Texas hitter on a 2-2 count with the bases loaded and two outs. Not a good look and that was ultimately what ended his day as manager Mark Kotsay came to the mound to take out his rookie right-handed. His evening was done.

-Mitch Spence: 4 ²⁄₃ IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 92 pitches

Oakland’s Rule 5 pick has had an overall solid season in his first taste of the major leagues. There have definitely been some lows but plenty of highs and reasons for optimism of his future. While the team was ‘forced’ to keep him on the roster all season he more than earned his spot on the team. Spence won’t have the Rule 5 status protecting him from a demotion next year but if he can build off this promising rookie campaign the club may have a rotation stalwart for the next few years. Spence is tentatively lined up to start the final game of the season but it has yet to be announced. Stay tuned.

Now it was up to the bullpen to finish the job. Veteran lefty TJ McFarland came on and induced a critical groundball to escape the fifth inning without any more damage, and that was all he would be asked to do today. Rookie right-handers Grant Holman and Tyler Ferguson handled scoreless sixth and seventh innings, respectively.

Meanwhile on offense the team wasn’t happy being tied this late in the game. An error and ground-rule double by the combo of Langeliers-Soderstrom in the sixth put the go-ahead run in scoring position and an extra insurance run just 90 feet behind him. Well sophomore second baseman Zack Gelof made sure to bring in at least one, driving a ball to center field for a productive, run-scoring out:

Say what you will about this A’s squad. One thing that’ll start a fight is saying they don’t have fight in their bones. This has been one of the more resilient teams in recent A’s memory and with the great history of this franchise that’s saying something, especially considering where they are in the standings. Fight to the end, boys.

Things were going smoothly until the eighth. It was another veteran lefty’s turn, this time the ageless Scott Alexander. He’s been one of the most reliable arms in the bullpen all year but the wrong pitch cost him tonight as a sinker that didn’t sink was sent over the center field wall for a game-tying home run. Owch. Not fun, and extra innings were staring us right in the face yet again.

Texas sure wanted to win this one in regulation. Two singles in the top of the ninth against All-Star closer Mason Miller and Texas was cooking. A stolen base and not only was the go-ahead run at third base but so was an extra run right behind him. We needed prime Miller to escape this jam, and that’s just what we got. A strikeout for out #2, and a lazy fly out ended the inning, giving the Athletics the chance to get at least one more walk-off chance at the Coliseum, a place they’d done it before countless times.

The bottom of the ninth only saw three batters. Gelof led off the frame with a single to put the winning run on base, and then proceeded to steal his 24th bag of the season to set up the walk-off chance, Now it was in the bat of young shortstop Jacob Wilson, and he delivered the biggest hit of his young career with a walk-off hit to send the crowd into an absolute frenzy:

Miller’s second career win. Wilson’s first career walk-off hit. And Oakland’s 68th win of the 2024 season. Thank you very much.

What a game. This one really couldn’t have been closer. Texas seemed to be threatening pretty much every inning while the Green & Gold struggled to collect hits, much less string them together. Still, doesn’t matter how many hits you have, they just need to come at the perfect time, and the A’s were blessed by the baseball gods with their timely hitting tonight. Oakland fans needed this one. And the next one. And definitely the one after that.

We do it all again tomorrow, same time same place. Texas will be sending left-hander Cody Bradford to the mound for tomorrow’s contest. Last time he faced the Athletics (August 31st) the team could only manage four hits and two runs against him. The offense will be hoping for better results this time around. The home team will counter with rookie left-hander Brady Basso, who will be making just his fourth career start. Let’s hope tomorrow’s game is just as exciting as tonight’s!