Rangers Lose In Oakland
OAKLAND, Calif. — Oakland A’s left fielder Khris Davis already had two solo home runs on the night when he came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Tuesday.
The A’s trailed the Texas Rangers 5-4, but Davis turned his two-homer night into a career game and a miraculous 8-4 A’s victory with one swing of the bat.
Davis drilled Ranger closer Shawn Tolleson’s 2-2 fastball over the left field fence for a walk-off grand slam. It was Davis’ first walk-off homer, first grand slam and first three-homer game of his career.
As he circled the bases, he soaked it all in and savored the moment.
“Pretty extraordinary,” Davis said. “I was seeing all the fans go off, and they were really into it. I was pleased I could just put on a show for them.”
When Davis rounded third and approached his teammates at home plate, he took off his helmet, pretended it was a basketball and shot it toward the plate.
“I planned that,” Davis said. “I’ve had that in the back of my head since last year, and I finally got the chance to do it. I wasn’t going to miss it. It was a swish, by the way.”
Davis went 3-for-5 and drove in a career-high-tying six runs. He now has
a team-leading 11 home runs. The walk-off grand slam was the seventh in Oakland history.
A’s third baseman Danny Valencia, who had a three-homer game Sunday against Tampa Bay, had a solo homer Tuesday as well as a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning.
Ian Desmond put the Rangers ahead 5-4 with a two-run homer with two outs in the top of the ninth inning. Rougned Odor lined a two-out single off A’s closer Ryan Madson, and Desmond launched a 1-0 changeup into the left field seats for his sixth home run of the season.
Nomar Mazara followed with an infield single and continued to second on Valencia’s throwing error. Adrian Beltre lined a single to center, but Mazara was thrown out at home on a relay from Billy Burns to first baseman Yonder Alonso to catcher Matt McBride.
That set the stage for Oakland’s thrilling comeback.
“An outcome like that, that was so fun to watch,” said Madson, who pitched last season for the World Series champion Kansas City Royals. “Dating back to last year even, the games I didn’t have good games, the team came back and did something special. It reminded me of that. In a way, I was kind of glad that was how everything happened.”
Pinch hitter Stephen Vogt led off the bottom of the ninth with an infield single off Tolleson and moved to third on Coco Crisp’s double down the right field line. Tolleson (0-2) retired Burns on a popup, then walked Josh Reddick intentionally, loading the bases and bringing Valencia to the plate.
Tolleson got Valencia on a fly ball to shallow right field, but Davis crushed a pitch into the left field seats.
“I was just looking for a fastball,” Davis said. “I went deep on off-speed all night. I didn’t think they’d flip something over. I thought they were going to make me beat them with a fastball that (at-bat).”
Rangers manager Jeff Banister said Tolleson, who blew his fourth save in 15 chances, just missed his spot with that fastball.
“The last at-bat looked like he was trying to go down and away,” Tolleson said. “Left a pitch center cut. Davis is hot, got the barrel on it and hit it out of the ballpark. Certainly tough to lose a ballgame we fought hard to come back and take a lead.”
Madson (2-0) emerged with the win despite allowing two runs in his lone inning.
Mazara and Beltre hit solo home runs for the Rangers.
Rangers left-hander Cole Hamels gave up four runs (three earned) on nine hits, including three home runs, and got a no-decision as his career-high 11-game winning streak survived. He struck out six and walked two over 6 2/3 innings.
“I threw some good pitches to Davis,” Hamels said. “He had some really good contact to get it out of the park. Three home runs in one games is pretty impressive, especially the way he did it.”
A’s right-hander Jesse Hahn, who was recalled Tuesday from Triple-A Nashville for the start, allowed three runs on 10 hits over 6 2/3 innings and got a no-decision.
