Laureano Delivers in Walkoff Fashion as Athletics Ninth-Inning Magic Continues

Center fielder Ramón Laureano, hitless in his first four at-bats, delivered a game-winning hit for a 3-2 Oakland Athletics win over the Astros Wednesday. The A's have uppped their walkoff win total to five, two of them against the Astros, who now trail Oakland by 5.5 games in the American League West.

The A’s penchant for late-inning theatrics showed itself once again Wednesday night.

Held to two hits for the first six innings, Oakland saw newcomer Tommy La Stella deliver a game-tying double in the seventh inning to get even, setting A’s up for a walkoff 3-2 win when Ramón Laureano hit a gapper with two out and two on in the bottom of the ninth.

That’s three wins in the first four games of the five-game series between the first-place A’s and the second-place Astros with a series finale Thursday afternoon. The A’s have won six of the first nine games against the three-time defending American League West champs this season, and carry a 5 ½-game lead into Thursday.

“It was truly important, but we’ve still got to win tomorrow,” Laureano said.

He came up with men on first and second and two out against Astros closer Ryan Pressly and drilled a shot into the left-center field alley. It would have been a double in most cases, but Laureano settled for a single and the win.

“It’s always good to win,” he said, “especially against the team that’s behind you.”

The Laureano walkoff hit, the third of his career, was the fifth of the season for the A’s, and the second against the Astros. It seemed improbable that Oakland would be in position for that during the first six innings, when the A’s had just two hits against Houston rookie right-hander Luis Garcia. But if two things have defined the A’s this year, it’s the bullpen and the club’s improved offense from the seventh inning on.

“That’s kind of been the theme for us this year,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ll look stagnant offensively for a while, and then do just enough at the end. We always have a good feeling here at home when we have a last at-bat with a chance to win.”

That the A’s were close enough had much to do with rookie left-hander Jesús Luzardo, who pitched seven innings for the first time in his Major League career. He gave up a couple of solo homers to George Springer in the first and Yuli Gurriel in the sixth, but allowed just three other base runners while striking out seven.

“Jesús was terrific today, other than those two pitches,” Melvin said.

Luzardo said he needed to shake off the pitch that Springer hit out, but had no complaints about the Gurriel homer.

“You never want to start out a game that way,” Luzardo said. “I was glad to keep us in the game for seven innings. I feel that’s our job as starters, and I’ve learned a lot and I’m kind of feeding off the older guys in our rotation and see what I have to do when I got around the third and fourth time in the lineup.”

It didn’t hurt that he was pitching on Roberto Clemente Day. He had special “21” spikes in honor of Clemente.

“It was an honor and a blessing,” the left-hander said. “you know the history behind him and all his accomplishments on the field and off the field. That’s the kind of person that you look to as a role model. I was to be like that, off the field especially. Just being able to pitch today was big for me.”

Still, he was looking to take the loss, down 2-0 after he finished off the top of the seventh. But in the bottom of the inning, Vimael Machin, who is Puerto Rican and who was wearing Clemente’s 21, walked. So did Sean Murphy, and with two out La Stella went the opposite way with a liner that was slicing away from Kyle Tucker in left. The ball missed Tucker’s glove mid-slide and ricocheted off his foot, rolling all the way to the wall past the A’s bullpen. That was a break the A’s needed, because Murphy, who isn’t blessed with speed, was able to score the tying run from first.

Joakim Soria and Liam Hendriks both contributed a scoreless inning of relief, to get the A’s to the bottom of the ninth still tied. A leadoff walk to Murphy and a pitch from Pressly that hit Tony Kemp in the left big toe set the inning up. A couple of grounders netted nothing, but Laureano, who was hitless in four previous at-bats, delivered.

“The guys had good at-bats and then were giving the bat to the next guy,” Laureano said. “That’s how you win games.”

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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