A's Drop Game 2 Against Giants in 10th Inning Walk-Off Walk

The Athletics dropped the second game of the series against the San Francisco Giants after star closer Mason Miller walked Wilmer Flores to bring in the game-winning run. Miller recorded a clutch strikeout on Tyler Fitzgerald with runners on second and third with one out, but after intentionally walking Mike Yastrzemski to load the bases, Miller ultimately lost control to lose the game.

The A's will head into the third and final game of the series looking to avoid being swept.

A's ace Luis Severino had quite an impressive start to help keep his team in the game. Severino finished his start with six scoreless innings pitched, and he allowed just four hits, a walk, and recorded five punch-outs. The veteran starter is now just six strikeouts away from recording his 1,000th career strikeout.

Although Severino has had his struggles at home in Sutter Health Park this season, he's actually been one of the best starting pitchers in the league on the road. Following this start, he now holds a 0.72 ERA in games away from Sutter Health Park, and a rough 6.75 ERA in home games this season. That all combines for a 4.22 ERA overall.

A's broadcaster Dallas Braden discussed the split during Saturday's game and mentioned that Severino usually sits in the clubhouse in between innings of his starts. However, in West Sacramento, the clubhouse is in left field. This means that he has to stay in the dugout between innings, which Severino is clearly not used to.

For the Giants, the 26-year-old Landen Roupp tossed six scoreless innings as well, and allowed five hits, a pair of walks, and also punched out five A's hitters. Between the two quality starts by both Severino and Roupp, the pitching duel kept the game at 0-0 until extra innings.

The bullpens came out firing following the great starts, as A's reliever Justin Sterner was able to provide a couple of innings of relief in which he allowed just one hit and struck out a pair of Giants hitters, including a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play.

Giants relievers Randy Rodriguez, Tyler Rogers, and Ryan Walker pitched the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings for San Francisco. All three arms not only pitched three scoreless frames, but also didn't allow a single hit.

The A's brought Tyler Ferguson into the game in the bottom of the ninth, and he sent all three Giants batters down in a row, striking out Matt Chapman and Willy Adames. That would end up sending the game into extra innings. This would also be the first time in A's vs. Giants history that the game was scoreless after nine innings.

In the 10th inning, the A's got a couple of runners on base, but ultimately failed to score. The A's turned to Mason Miller in the bottom of the 10th to face Lamonte Wade Jr. After two failed bunt attempts, and being ahead 0-2, Miller lost control and Wade Jr. worked the count back for a walk.

Giants catcher Patrick Bailey was able to get a clutch sacrafice bunt down, which put a pair of runners in scoring position for San Francisco. A clutch strikeout from Miller to get the A's to two outs led manager Mark Kotsay to intentionally walking Yastrzemski to face Wilmer Flores.

The decision became a costly one as Miller pumped multiple 104 mph pitches out of the zone, and ended up walking Flores on nine pitches to lose the game. Flores put up a heck of a battle to work that walk, and was able to play the hero for the second straight day after his three home run, eight RBI performance on Friday night.

To wrap up the series, the A's will face veteran Justin Verlander, and will trot out Jeffrey Springs in hopes to pick up the club's first win of the series. They will also look to snap a four game losing skid.