Chapman's walk-off hit seals Bay Bridge trophy

July 22nd, 2018

OAKLAND -- For the second straight day, the A's bullpen coughed up a lead late in a game that went to extra innings. For the second straight day, the A's did what good teams do: win anyway.
They won on Sunday at Oakland Coliseum, 6-5, on a fluke bounce with two outs in the 10th inning on a single by , whose ground ball took a bad hop past Giants shortstop and into the outfield, scoring from second , who led off the inning with a walk.
"Just beat it out," Chapman said on his mindset. "I think I would've beat it out with how high [the hop] was, but we'll never know."
The A's are now 15-6 in games decided in the last at-bat, a Major League best, and they are 17-8 in one-run games. This time, they came back despite giving up a 4-1 lead in the seventh, and trailing by a run heading into the bottom of the eighth.
"It shows you the mettle of this team," manager Bob Melvin said. "Having the lead like we did today, and then losing it, and these guys come right back. It's who we are and what we've established. Each and every game, until you get that last out, we have a chance to win."
and each hit two home runs and newly-acquired reliever received the win in his A's debut, pitching scoreless ninth and 10th innings.

With their ninth win in their last 12 games, the A's move to 14 games over .500 for the first time since they finished the 2014 season with an 88-74 record and played in the American League Wild Card Game. They currently sit three games back of the Mariners for the second Wild Card spot after Seattle beat the White Sox earlier on Sunday.
A's starter retired the first 13 batters he faced. He was in line to improve to 5-0 in his last seven starts, but wound up with a no-decision after he was pulled with two outs in the seventh and the Giants rallied to tie the game with three runs against the A's bullpen, which uncharacteristically blew a lead.
A day after throwing 1 2/3 innings, 's scoreless streak ended at 15 frames when he allowed two hits with runners in scoring position -- cut the deficit to one with a two-run double, and he scored on a bloop single by to tie the game at 4-4.

"How many times is anybody going to get Trivino like what happened today?" Melvin said. "That just doesn't happen very often."
Melvin added that Manaea, who allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings, deserved the win.

Manaea said: "Everything was working today. I was throwing the slider for strikes, throwing the changeup for strikes, just getting ahead of guys and not falling behind. If you can do that against a lineup like that, you'll have success."
In the eighth, homered to left off to give the Giants a 5-4 lead, but Davis answered in the bottom of the inning with an opposite-field solo blast, his second homer of the day.

Davis also provided the early offense for the A's, launching a towering two-run shot to left in the first inning on a hanging first pitch changeup by Giants starter . Then, Olson went to work to give the A's a 4-1 lead. In the fourth, he ripped a line drive blast that landed in the right field seats in a hurry. Two innings later, he drilled another one just inside the right-field foul pole for his fourth-career two-homer game and his second this season.

"When we hit home runs, we tend to win a lot of games," Chapman said. "When those two dudes [Davis and Olson] are hot, they're some of the best home run-hitting dudes in baseball. It's nice to see them both have two home runs."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Walk-off manufacturer: Much like Saturday's 12th-inning walk off, the A's manufactured the winning run on Sunday. After Semien led off the inning with a walk off Giants' reliever , he alertly advanced to second on a deep fly ball by the next batter, .
Three batters later, Chapman just put the ball in play and Crawford, who made several outstanding defensive plays all series, couldn't handle it. Semien raced around third to score the winning run.
"I think [Chapman] runs pretty good, that's why I wanted to come get it," Crawford said. "It was a high enough hop that I thought I could get it on that first big hop. It came down a lot steeper than I thought it was going to -- I think that's what caused me to miss it."
SOUND SMART
Familia's two-inning outing tied his longest appearance of the season and earned him the win in his A's debut. Melvin used him right away in a pressure situation, and Familia kept the game tied in both the ninth and 10th innings.

"When you have that kind of trade, you come to a new team, first impressions are important," Melvin said. "You pitch the way he did, it makes you feel part of the team very quickly and it was terrific."
Despite arriving at the Coliseum just an hour before first pitch, Familia already feels comfortable.
"You can see the energy and the excitement in the team, and that made me feel really comfortable to be here," Familia said, via an interpreter.
HE SAID IT
"The more we do this, since we've been on this run, the more confidence we gain. It's important that we lost the first game and came back to win in both [series against the Giants]. It keeps the momentum, as far as that perseverance trait goes. They expect to win." -- Melvin, on the A's finding a way to pick up wins
UP NEXT
The A's will embark on a seven-game road trip, beginning with a four-game set against the Rangers that starts Monday. , who has pitched into the sixth inning just once this season, will toe the rubber for the A's, while the Rangers will send Cole Hamels (5-8, 4.36 ERA) to the mound for the 5:05 p.m. PT first pitch at Globe Life Park in Arlington.