Brent Rooker belted a three-run, walk-off home run in the 10th inning Friday night to give Shintaro Fujinami his first major league win as the Oakland Athletics countered two Texas Rangers runs with four of their own for a 9-7 triumph.
Adolis Garcia and Marcus Semien stroked consecutive run-scoring singles in the top of the 10th to give the Rangers a two-run lead. However, Fujinami (1-4), who has moved from the rotation to bullpen in his first season in the United States, came on to get the final two outs.
In snapping a five-game losing streak, the A’s wasted no time reversing the score when Esteury Ruiz singled home the automatic runner and JJ Bleday chased the potential tying run to third with a single. Rooker then bombed his 11th homer of the season off the fifth Rangers pitcher, Brock Burke (2-1).
The game was tied at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4 before Robbie Grossman launched his fourth home run of the season in the sixth inning, giving the Rangers a 5-4 lead.
The Texas bullpen held the advantage until the eighth, when Oakland forged the game’s fifth and final tie on an RBI single by Ruiz.
Neither starting pitcher was effective, as the Rangers scored in five of the first six innings and the A’s in four of the first five.
Rangers starter Martin Perez allowed solo home runs to Ruiz in the first, Kevin Smith in the fourth and Carlos Perez in the fifth before exiting. He allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings, with two walks and three strikeouts.
Ruiz’s homer, which led off the last of the first, was the first of his career. Smith and Perez each hit his third of the season.
Oakland led 1-0 and 2-1, but starter Ken Waldichuk couldn’t hold either advantage. He also was pulled after five innings, charged with four runs (three earned) on seven hits. He walked five and struck out five.
Ruiz finished with three hits, four RBIs and two runs as the A’s out-hit the Rangers 14-12. Nick Allen also had three hits and Rooker contributed two.
Grossman, Jonah Heim and Ezequiel Duran collected two hits apiece for the Rangers, who lost for just the second time in their past seven games. Grossman finished with two RBIs.
–Field Level Media
