ANAHEIM -- The comeback kids did it again.
For the second straight night, the Athletics overcame an early deficit against the Angels to tie the game late and send it to extras. They finished it off in the 10th for a 3-2 win on Thursday night to secure a series victory over the Halos.
The A’s began chipping away in the sixth with Nick Kurtz’s RBI single bringing them within one. In the seventh, Darell Hernaiz tied it up with an RBI single of his own, setting up the eventual game-winner in the 10th when Zack Gelof busted it down the first-base line on a groundout to shortstop and narrowly avoided a double play to reach base and allow Kurtz to score the go-ahead run.
Thursday marked the A’s 14th comeback win of the season. That’s tied with the Guardians for most among American League teams and fourth most in the Major Leagues.
This entire series was about resilience. The mood inside the A’s clubhouse following Monday’s opener was about as down as it has ever been, with every player heartbroken for starter J.T. Ginn after his no-hit bid entering the ninth quickly flipped to a soul-crushing walk-off defeat in the span of two batters.
It was the type of gut-wrenching loss that can send a club into a spiral, something we’ve seen in previous years with this team. Instead, the response was a blowout win the next day and back-to-back comeback wins to close it out, pushing the A’s to 26-24 to maintain sole possession of first place in the AL West for the 25th consecutive day.
“Great series, right?” manager Mark Kotsay said. “For this team to come back and really grind three wins out says a lot about the guys. They’re competing every night.”
The turning point in this one was Hernaiz’s clutch knock with two outs in the seventh. Not only did it tie the game, but it also knocked out Angels starter José Soriano, who was perfect through three innings and made life difficult for hitters most of the night. Once he walked off the mound, you could sense momentum building inside the A’s dugout.
“Soriano was obviously dealing most of the night,” Hernaiz said. “To get a hit and knock him out of the game was huge. For me, it was an awesome feeling.”
Teams are going to deal with injuries throughout any season. How they handle those times determines whether teams like this playoff-aspiring A’s squad can reach their goals while dealing with adversity.
Thursday’s finale was a prime example of the next-man-up mentality these A’s have formed. Hernaiz and Gelof, filling in for injured Opening Day shortstop Jacob Wilson and third baseman Max Muncy, both came through in big spots.
Hernaiz, in particular, has eased the pain of losing a catalyst in Wilson. He’s now batting .357 (10-for-28) over his last nine games while providing strong defense at short.
“Darell’s been playing well,” Kotsay said. “Each guy that has gone down, someone else has stepped up. We saw it with [Carlos] Cortes with [Brent] Rooker out. Now we’re seeing it with Darell with Wilson out.”
With all that happened in the late innings, you might forget that Luis Severino started this game -- but the A’s certainly didn’t. After what he described as “a much-needed slap in the face” in the form of a two-run homer surrendered to Nolan Schanuel just three batters into his outing, Severino buckled down and delivered one of his finest starts as a member of the A’s.
After Schanuel’s homer, Severino retired 19 of his final 20 batters. The only hit he allowed after the first was a single by Josh Lowe in the fifth after a 14-pitch battle, and that was quickly wiped out one pitch later on a double play. In all, Severino allowed two runs on three hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts, while his 18 whiffs on the night were the most in a single outing in his A’s career.
“He really got right back in the groove,” Kotsay said of Severino. “It says a lot about him out there just battling. … That was probably the best we’ve seen him.”
Set to begin a three-game series against a talented Padres team on Friday night, the A’s will head into Petco Park with no shortage of confidence.
“We’re in a good spot right now,” Severino said. “If we can continue to play like this and stay healthy, we can be a great team.”