Oakland A’s bring out the bats late and beat Cincinnati Reds

In the first five innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, the Oakland Athletics had accumulated one total walk in the best batter’s ballpark outside of Coors Field. Then, in the sixth, the A’s found their bats and were down 1-0.

Max Schuemann opened the sixth inning with a double, followed by a rare strikeout by Jacob Wilson and a groundout by Lawrence Butler to old friend Sam Moll that allowed the runner to advance. With two outs, the Reds decided to intentionally walk Brent Rooker (always a smart decision) and then, not so intentionally, walk JJ Bleday, loading the bases.

The Reds decided to put right-hander Tony Santillan against Moll’s old battery mate Shea Langeliers. It proved to be the right decision, as Langeliers failed to make a save when he saw a slider in the zone.

With the A’s having scored, it looked like this was the team’s best chance on Tuesday to at least tie the game or even take the lead.

The power was on full display in the final three frames. In the seventh, Schuemann gave the A’s a 2-1 lead with a two-run shot, his seventh of the season. The returning Jacob Wilson hit a single to right and Lawrence Butler threw a slider for a no-doubter, giving the A’s a 4-1 lead.

The score held until the eighth inning, when Zack Gelof hit a two-out solo home run that proved to be the deciding factor. The home run gave the A’s a four-run lead heading into the bottom of the eighth inning.

In the second half of the inning, setup man Tyler Ferguson allowed a single and three walks, leading to a run, and forced manager Mark Kotsay to insert veteran long man Ross Stripling into the bullpen to get the final out with the bases loaded.

The score remained 5-2 until the ninth inning, with Mason Miller lurking, and it felt like this game, like seemingly every other game Miller appeared in, was over. The Reds made it exciting by collecting three singles and a double to score two in the ninth inning, but Miller still managed to record his 22nd save of the season.

Miller had 24 save opportunities and failed to capitalize on two of them. One of those was a game against the Twins in Minnesota when he got into a bases-loaded situation with one out in the eighth inning with the A’s up by one run. He walked the first batter and tied the game, then induced a groundout and flyout to get out of the jam before pitching an uneventful ninth inning. The A’s ultimately lost in overtime.

The other opportunity came in late May against the Tampa Bay Rays. Miller allowed a solo home run to Jose Siri that tied the game and the A’s lost in overtime. He also struck out four batters in two innings in an otherwise solid performance.

The Reds’ four hits are a season high, and the two runs allowed ended an 11-game scoreless streak for the rookie that dropped his ERA to 1.80 before the game this season.

With the win, the A’s improve their season record to 57-75 and are now 3.5 games behind the reigning World Series champions, the Texas Rangers, in third place in the AL West.