Three Key Players in the A's Win Over the Minnesota Twins

As we wrote yesterday, catcher Shea Langeliers is doing more than just hitting dingers during his heater, but in the top of the tenth inning last night, it was his ball over the fence that ended up being the difference in the game.

The home run is his 28th on the year, which is tied for tenth in all of baseball. He's also the only player with fewer than 100 games played (96) at the level he's at. A brief IL stint cost him some time this season, and has put him at least 20 games back of any other slugger. It just makes his power surge that much more impressive.

It's almost unfair to opposing teams that the A's lineup begins with the two best bats in baseball since June 30 in Langeliers and Kurtz, only to be followed by All Star Brent Rooker and another standout from Wednesday's win.

Tyler Soderstrom was the A's offense early

Soderstrom started off the scoring in the second inning with a leadoff double, was pushed to third on a Lawrence Butler ground out, and scored on a Darell Hernaiz sac-fly to give the A's an early lead. He'd also add a solo home run in the top of the fourth to extend that lead to 2-0, before the Twins would answer back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game and push starter J.T. Ginn out.

While Kurtz may be the most feared hitter in the A's lineup these days, Soderstrom has been hot in his own right. In the month of August, the lefty is batting .345 with a .415 OBP, four home runs, and 13 RBI. He also has an OPS of 1.070 this month.

The A's bullpen was also excellent, tossing 5 1/3 scoreless innings after Ginn's exit, but it was Soderstrom that scored both of the A's runs before Langelier's launch.

Tyler Ferguson closes the door

A's manager Mark Kotsay has said numerous times over the past couple of seasons that progress isn't always a straight line. In other words, players have setbacks. They often struggle before coming out the other side of their development.

While Ferguson is 31 years old, he was a rookie last season. He just pitched to a 3.68 ERA and looked pretty dominant at times, so people tend to forget that he's still fairly new in the grand scheme of big league innings. This season he was slotted into a big late inning role with the A's, setting up former closer Mason Miller, and at the start of the season, he was unhittable.

When he entered the game on May 6 against the Seattle Mariners, he held a 0.52 ERA on the year, spanning 17 1/3 innings. That was also his fourth day in a row pitching, and he ended up giving up the lead in a big divisional game. That is also the game that the A's 1-20 spiral began. He'd end up with a 7.71 ERA in May and a 15.58 ERA in 8 2/3 June innings before getting optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas for a reset.

He returned to the green and gold on August 6, by which point Miller had been moved to the San Diego Padres and the A's were ready to roll with the hot hand in the ninth. Luckily, there haven't been many save opportunities for the team, thanks to the offense producing nearly six runs per game of late, but on Wednesday night, it was Ferguson's turn to get the save opportunity.

This was also the highest-leverage save chance that an A's pitcher has faced since Miller was dealt, perhaps outside of Elvis Alvarado staying in after pitching the eighth against the Baltimore Orioles with a one-run lead.

Still, Ferguson started the tenth with a runner on second, and managed to get a line out, a pop out, and a ground out to secure the save, his second of the season. His path to the ninth has certainly not been linear this season, and it may have even been a one-off opportunity, but when his name was called, Ferguson answered.

Darell Hernaiz gets an honorable mention

Hernaiz made the A's Opening Day roster last year, but his bat wasn't quite ready for the big leagues. He also dealt with injuries and was leapfrogged by Jacob Wilson over the course of the season. He began this year in Triple-A, but when Wilson went down, Hernaiz earned another shot at shortstop, and he's been showing vast improvement while getting consistent playing time.

His at-bats are battles now. He's been fouling pitches off until he gets a pitch to hit and really grinding his chances at the plate. While his 1-for-3 outing against the Twins may not jump off the stat sheet, it was his sac-fly that scored Soderstrom in the second, and the A's coaches love when players execute the little things like a bunt or moving the runner over.

Hernaiz also led off the top of the ninth with a double in a tie game, but the A's were unable to bring him home. He provided the team with a chance before extras. He's batting .266 with a .346 OBP and a .784 OPS in 19 games, and could be working his way into a role with the club for next season.