Seth Brown’s second hit of extra innings, a one-out double in the bottom of the 13th, gave the Oakland Athletics a 7-6 walk-off win over the visiting Detroit Tigers on Friday in the longest game of the season for each team.
On a night when Detroit’s Tarik Skubal was denied a potential 17th win, a game that was 2-2 going into the 10th inning was tied at 6-6 in the 13th before Brown lashed the first pitch he saw from Beau Briske (2-4) into the right field corner for the game-winner.
Automatic runner JJ Bleday raced home from second on the hit.
Rookie Grant Holman (1-1) was credited with his first major league win after giving up one unearned run in two innings. He held the Tigers scoreless in the top of the 13th, an inning that ended when he struck out Parker Meadows with the bases loaded.
One night earlier, Meadows also batted with the bases loaded in the last inning and came through with a grand slam in Detroit’s 4-3 win at San Diego.
The loss was a costly one for the Tigers (71-71), who are now 5 1/2 games behind the Minnesota Twins for the final American League wild-card spot.
The crowd-pleasing finish occurred after each team scored once in the 10th, twice in the 11th and once more in the 12th to require a fourth extra inning. A two-run double by Meadows and two-run homer by Brown, his 14th, were the big extra-inning blows leading up to the game-winner.
Skubal was pulled two outs into the sixth after having surrendered Oakland’s second run on an RBI single by Daz Cameron. Will Vest came on to strike out Zack Gelof with two runners aboard to keep the Tigers within 2-1.
Skubal was charged with two runs on nine hits. He struck out seven without issuing a walk.
The Tigers got their ace off the hook for a potential loss when they tied the score in the seventh on a wild pitch by A’s reliever Michel Otanez.
A’s starter Mitch Spence allowed just one run despite yielding eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. He didn’t walk anyone and struck out six.
Brown finished with three RBIs for the A’s (62-80), who snapped a two-game losing streak. Brent Rooker collected three hits and two RBIs, Lawrence Butler also had three hits, Bleday scored twice and Jacob Wilson joined Brown with a pair of hits.
Riley Greene went 4-for-6 with two RBIs for the Tigers, who have lost three of four. Meadows, Jace Jung and Zach McKinstry had two hits apiece, while Ryan Kreidler scored twice.
–Field Level Media
