Athletics Finally Run Into a Ninth Inning They Can't Find a Way to Beat

Down 3-0 early, the Oakland Athletics came back against Arizona to tie the game in the eighth inning. But the ninth inning, which has been so fruitful for Oakland this season, got away with the Diamondbacks getting a walkoff win.

The A’s finally ran into a ninth inning they couldn’t beat Monday.

Down 3-0 after six innings, the A’s came back to tie it with one run in the seventh and another pair in the eighth, but the ninth inning offensive eruptions that were such a big part of the weekend in San Francisco were nowhere to be found in the Valley of the Sun.

The A’s did get a leadoff single in the ninth, but a double play off the bat of Stephen Piscotty – who’d had a grand slam in the ninth inning Friday against the Giants, ended Oakland’s hopes. Ultimately, David Peralta hit an 0-2 pitch from Jake Diekman to deliver the winning run in a 4-3 Arizona Diamondbacks victory.

That ended the A’s winning streak at four games and left Oakland, winner of 13 of the last 16, with a 16-7 record, the best in the American League West. But they wanted this one, and it got away.

“For the most part, I think we’re in all these games,” starting pitcher Chris Bassitt said. “But it didn’t happen.”

Bassitt got no decision in this one, but the fact that he gave up three runs and the fact that he was out of the game after 5.1 innings both gnawed at him.

“I feel really, really good, and I’m confident in my stuff,” Bassitt said. “I’m just pissed off about not going deep into games. I feel way too good to go out there for five and two-thirds. I mean, where I’m at right now, and how I’m feeling and how many pitches I throwing, I should be going seven innings.”

The pitches that hurt Bassitt were a solo homer by Peralta in the third inning with two out and a leadoff double, also from Peralta, in the sixth. It was at that point that the Oakland defense, touted as one of the best and which came into the game ranked sixth in the majors, feel apart. With Peralta at third base and one out, Tony Kemp fielded an Eduardo Escobar grounder at second base.

Kemp opted for the out at the plate, didn’t get it, Peralta scoring with Escobar safe at first. Bassitt then had Escobar picked off, but let the play get away from him. His pickoff throw sailed, Escobar made it to third, eventually scoring.

“I stepped off (the mound), and I knew exactly what was going on,” Bassitt said. “I looked over to (first baseman Matt) Olson to kind of see where he was out. I saw (Escobar) going back to first base, and I didn’t realize how far off the base he was. So, I did kind of a hurry-up throw.”

The way Bassitt told it, Olson “called for a fastball and I literally threw a cutter.”

The run was that eventually produced would be damaging.

Held without a hit into the sixth inning against a fiendishly crafty Zac Gallen, the A’s got one run in the seventh on Robbie Grossman’s solo homer, then two more in the eighth, the tying run with the help of the Diamondbacks’ defensive lapse.

In the end, however, the A’s learned that they aren’t the only team with some ninth-inning sparkle. Nick Ahmad, whose defensive lapse had allowed Oakland to tie the score, doubled off Joakim Soria to start the ninth, Jake Diekman, who had allowed just two hits in 23 at-bats all season, got a strikeout, gave up a single, issued an intentional walk, then saw Peralta strike again.

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Inside the Athletics on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.