Trailing by seven after a rough Jeffrey Springs start, the A's clawed back with homers from Jacob Wilson, Max Muncy and Jonah Heim before Nick Kurtz walked it off in the 10th.
Before Friday night's game, A's manager Mark Kotsay said that despite Jeffrey Springs' recent struggles, he's never alone. After another tough outing where he gave up six runs in 3⅔ innings and the A's trailed 11-4 at one point, his teammates showed him that they have his back.
A Zack Gelof RBI single in the sixth inning secured a hit for his 23rd straight game and also started the A's own slow-burn comeback.
Jacob Wilson and Max Muncy would notch two-run homers in the seventh and eighth innings, bringing the A's within two runs at 11-9 entering the bottom of the ninth.
Shea Langeliers flew out to center on the first pitch of the inning, but then a double from Tyler Soderstrom brought the tying run to the plate. That tying run ended up being switch-hitter Jonah Heim, who came off the bench for the second time in two weeks to hit a monster home run late.
The Angels were held scoreless in the top of the 10th, and bouts of wildness from Kirby Yates led to a walk to Henry Bolte to begin the inning, followed by a fly-out and a Gelof hit-by-pitch. That loaded the bases with the automatic runner placed at second to start extra innings. This led to Angels manager Kurt Suzuki bringing in left-hander Samy Natera Jr. to face Nick Kurtz.
The A's first baseman literally walked it off, working a five-pitch walk.
"We scored the first four runs, they scored the next 11," Kotsay said after the game. "Any time a team does that, the outcome doesn't generally end up the way it is tonight."
When Jonah Heim went into the tunnel leading to the A's clubhouse after the game, all of his teammates were waiting for him. At the front of that line was Springs, ready to greet the guy who hit the game-tying blast.
Newfound Appreciation For A's Minor League Pitchers
Pitching was hard to come by in the A's two series in Las Vegas last week, and that has given Kotsay a newfound appreciation for the A's Triple-A pitchers.
"Judging the Vegas ballpark and the pitching there is something that I have completely changed course on in my mind. I've watched the Triple-A guys now, and being there and watching it — experiencing it firsthand — I realize there's a lot of challenges to that ballpark that they encounter."
This could be an interesting development in terms of A's prospect development. With the big-league manager now having faced the elements and elevation of Las Vegas Ballpark himself, could that lead to the franchise either having more leniency on tough home outings, or potentially even lead to prospects skipping Triple-A altogether?
Thursday's starter for the Angels, Ryan Johnson, was brought up from Double-A to start against a tough A's lineup in a tough ballpark to pitch, and after catching too much of the plate in the first inning, he shut down the A's offense for the next four.
There could end up being scenarios where giving a pitcher big-league innings is more important than having them try to find success pitching against tough pitchers — and the altitude.
