A's Ninth Inning Magic Leads to Win Against Tampa Bay Rays

In the third inning, the A's would tack on another run to add to their lead, as Brent Rooker would single to drive in Lawrence Butler. The A's opened the inning with three hits in a row, recorded by Butler, Jacob Wilson, and then of course Brent Rooker. Unfortunately, Nick Kurtz would be called out on strikes, and Langeliers would ground into a double play for the Rays to escape the jam.

After Jacob Lopez retired ten in a row to begin the game, he'd get into trouble in the fourth inning. With one away, Curtis Mead walked, and Junior Caminero followed it up with a two-run shot off the batter's eye to cut the deficit to two. The Rays weren't done there, collecting four more consecutive singles in the inning.

Jonathan Aranda drove in Christopher Morel to give the Rays another run, and then Jose Caballero would single to drive in Jake Mangum and tie the game at four all.

To escape the mess, manager Mark Kotsay would turn to J.T. Ginn, and he would get out of it without allowing any further damage. Ginn would go on to give the A's 3 2/3 innings of work without allowing a hit, and punched out five Rays' hitters in his work out of the bullpen.

In the 8th, the A's would turn to their hot arm in Michael Kelly, who is yet to allow a run so far this season since his return from suspension. Kelly gave up a hit and a walk, but was able to get a double play before being taken out of the game for Sean Newcomb to set up a lefty-lefty situation on Josh Lowe.

However, Lowe would get a base knock into left field, and where Colby Thomas was patrolling just an inning into his MLB debut. Thomas would snag the ball off the grass and launch it towards home, twisting his body in the process. The throw was on target, and in time, cutting down Brandon Lowe attempting to score.

That run would've given the Rays a lead in the 8th, but Thomas was able to make the unbelievable throw to keep the game tied heading into the ninth inning. That would set up some heroics for the road team.

With that positive energy heading into the ninth, the A's would get a couple of baserunners thanks to back-to-back singles by Max Muncy and Luis Urias. Max Schuemann would run for Urias and swipe second base to put two runners in scoring positon for Lawrence Butler. Butler then proceeded to launch one into deep left-center for a huge 2-run triple to give the A's a 6-4 lead.

The A's then turned to their star closer Mason Miller to finish this one off, and he was able to get the three outs only allowing a hit, and secured the win for the A's on the road. Even though he faced one batter and they recorded a hit, Newcomb was credited with the win since he was the last A's pitcher on the mound before they took the lead.

The team will be facing the Rays for the second game of their series in Tampa on Tuesday night. They'll have yet another starter facing his former team, as Jeffrey Springs will take the mound for the green and gold. The team will be facing right-hander Shane Baz, and will look to get onto him early, just like they got to Drew Rasmussen on Monday.