OAKLAND — The Athletics tied it in the seventh inning on a two-out grand slam from Ryan Noda and Esteury Ruiz singled home a run in the 12th in a 9-8 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks t the Coliseum before what was left of a crowd of 3,261.
Austin Pruitt (1-1) was the winning pitcher with three scoreless innings of relief despite the presence of a free lead runner. Scott McGough (1-1) took the loss for Arizona.
Ruiz lined a one-hopper off Nick Ahmed with one out, bringing in Ramon Laureano with the winning run.
Nick Allen andLaureano also had solo home runs for the A’s, the first for Allen and the fourth for Laureano. For Arizona, Christian Walker hit a two-run shot in the first (his 10th) and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had his seventh, a two-run shot in the fifth.
The Athletics improved to 10-35 and evened the series at 1-1 with an opportunity to win their second series of the season in Wednesday’s getaway game against Arizona (24-19). The A’s came in having lost three straight and eight of their previous nine games.
Trailing 8-4, the A’s made two quick outs in the seventh before things got interesting. Singles by Brent Rooker and Aledmys Diaz preceded a misplay by Evan Longoria at third, loading the bases. The error set the stage for four unearned runs and a sense of drama for a team that hasn’t had many.
Kyle Nelson was summoned to face Noda, who hit a 1-0 pitch over the fence in center field for his fourth home run to tie the score 8-8. Noda’s first career slam traveled 424 feet to center field with an exit velocity of 106.7 miles per hour.
Kyle Muller, starting for the ninth time after being named Opening Day starter, hasn’t pitched into the seventh this season. It was no different Tuesday night.
After Laureano’s solo home run gave the A’s a 3-2 lead in the fourth, Arizona quickly chased Muller in the fifth with consecutive singles by Dominic Fletcher and Ketel Marte and a two-run double to left by Emmanuel Rivera.
A’s manager Mark Kotsay pulled Muller in place of Garrett Acton, who promptly served up a two-run home run to Gurriel to give the Diamondbacks a 6-3 lead.
The A’s closed within 6-4 on a two-out RBI single from Carlos Perez, but could have done more damage considering two of the first three hitters — Allen and Rooker — had walked.
Walker’s two-run shot against Muller in the first put Arizona up 2-0. The A’s cut that lead in half in the bottom of the inning courtesy of two bloops — a double to right by Ruiz and a single to right from Rooker.
Arizona added two runs in the eighth against Shintaro Fujinami, who struck out the first two hitters before giving up consecutive doubles to Corbin Carroll and Nick Ahmed and a single to Gabriel Moreno.
Neither team scored despite having the advantage of a free runner in the 10th. Dominic Fletcher got as far as third but didn’t score for Arizona. The A’s loaded the bases in the 10th with the help of a walk and an error but Rooker lined to short to end the inning. Each pitcher repeated their escape act in the 11th.
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