Allen, Semien End Night of Offensive Frustration as Athletics Beat Astros in 13th
The idea of having runners start extra-inning games at second base is that it makes it easier for Major League teams to score took a beating Friday night.
The Astros and the A’s took turns posing empty threats in the 10th 11th and 12th innings before the Astros took the lead in top of the 13th only to see Austin Allen tie the game with a two-out single and struggling Marcus Semien win it, 3-2, with a shot into the gap in right-center.
That pushed the A’s winning streak to seven games and moved the Oakland lead in the American League West to 3½ games over the three-time West-winning Astros. Normally that lead wouldn’t have a high level of importance three weeks into a season, but in a 60-game season, all the norms have changed.
“For us to win these games that we are winning, is going to pay such extreme dividends,” starting pitcher Chris Bassitt, who allowed one run in seven innings, said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our guys, the way they handled this stuff and are grinding every at-bat out.”
The grind was grueling Friday. The A’s had just one hit with a man in scoring position in their first 17 tries. Allen, who came into the game after starting catcher Sean Murphy was lifted for a pinch-runner in the 10th inning, was part of that. He struck out with two men on to end the 11th.
In the 13th, with the men on the corners and the A’s down to their final out, he laced a single to left off reliever Humberto Castellanos that got the A’s even. After Tony Kemp reached base for the fourth time with a bases-loading walk, Semien obliterated a night of frustration with a shot into the gap in right-center for a walkoff single.
He’d had a hit earlier in the game, but Semien was hitless in his previous four at-bats, which is sort of how his early season has been going. He grounded into an inning-ending double play in the fifth, struck out with a man on in the seventh, struck out with two on in the 10th and lined out with two on and no one out in the 12th.
“I’ve been struggling with my timing,” Semien said. “I put in a lot of work earlier in the day, trying to hit line drive to the opposite field. And it’s a good feeling when it clicks.”
The game-winner was the only time in the four hours, 13 minutes that the game took that Semien was able to go to right or right-center. But he’s hopeful it’s the start. With the 2-for-7 output Friday, his average sits at .190.
Manager Bob Melvin said that time was on Semien’s side.
“He’s a fighter, so you always feel good about him there,” the manager said. “You know he hasn’t gotten off to a good start, but every time he goes up there, he still has an attitude about him. And once Austin knocked that run in and Tony Kemp had an absolutely fantastic at-bats, and it was in Marcus’s hands again.
“You know he’s looking forward to it as opposed to sometimes when you’re not swinging good. You don’t look forward to those events, but he does, every time.”
The pitching win went to Wendelken, who pitched the 11th, 12th and 13th innings, each time going to the mound with a runner at second base under baseball’s new rules.
“He gives up a run (in the 13th), and it looks like he’s going to lose the game,” Melvin said. “But if you only give up one (unearned) run in three innings with a man on second base to start, that means you’ve done your job, and you’ve done it well.”
The A’s bullpen as a whole has been a rock for the first 14 games of the season and has a 0.57 ERA over 31.2 innings in the last eight games and a 1.62 ERA for the season.
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
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