OAKLAND -- Elvis Andrus couldn’t help but feel responsible as he watched a late lead over the Royals disappear for the second night in a row. His error in the seventh inning on a potential inning-ending ground ball extended the frame, giving the Royals an additional opportunity that they seized with a game-tying rally.

For the next two innings after that defensive mishap, Andrus begged the baseball gods for a chance to redeem himself.

He got it.

After Matt Chapman doubled off right-hander Scott Barlow with one out in the ninth, Andrus watched Kansas City intentionally walk Seth Brown in front of him to set up a possible double play. Battling Barlow to a 2-2 count, Andrus roped a fastball to right that scored Chapman from second to secure a 4-3 walk-off victory on Friday night at the Coliseum.

“Making an error in that situation, I always want the redemption,” Andrus said. “Not too often do you get the opportunity for redemption. I had been praying in the last two innings for that situation. As soon as I got it, I knew I was going to redeem myself.”

Late-inning heroics are nothing new for Andrus. Friday’s walk-off hit was the sixth game-ending RBI of the veteran shortstop’s career and the first since April 22, 2017, which also came against the Royals.

For once, though, Andrus came up with a clutch hit that actually brought a smile to manager Bob Melvin’s face. The A’s skipper had grown used to Andrus -- who spent the previous 12 years with the American League West rival Rangers -- come up with similar big hits against his club.

“The moment is not too big for him,” Melvin said. “You could see during that entire at-bat, he had a pretty good idea of what he was trying to do. It takes one pitch to give him a chance, and he did it. He’s done it against us many times over the years.”

Andrus entered the showdown with Barlow feeling like he had an advantage after facing him the night before. In the eighth inning of Thursday’s loss to Kansas City, Andrus saw a heavy dose of fastballs from the right-hander before ultimately flying out on five pitches.

On Friday, Andrus saw the opposite from Barlow, who started off the at-bat with four straight sliders to get to a 2-2 count. Fouling off a curveball and another slider in the next two pitches, Andrus finally got the fastball he was searching for and drove it the other way at 99.6 mph off the bat for the game-winner.

“Facing him yesterday, I felt really comfortable going into today,” Andrus said. “I was confident and just trying to wait for my pitch. He threw me a lot of breaking balls. But at the end, I was able to stay patient. I’m really glad he threw me a fastball, because it was a lot of breaking balls.”

The A’s never expressed much concern over Andrus’ slow start to the season, and the results are starting to speak for themselves. After hitting .143 over his first 31 games, the shortstop has put together a productive stretch over the past month. Dating back to May 7, Andrus is batting .293 (27-for-92) with seven doubles and a triple. Another sign that he’s going well at the plate is his penchant for hitting to the opposite field, where both of his hits landed on Friday.

“I’ve been working lately with [hitting coaches Darren] Bush and Eric [Martins] on staying through the middle of the field,” Andrus said. “Let the game come to me. I was really happy to see the results tonight.”

When Andrus learned he was traded to the A’s in February, a large part of his excitement over the move stemmed from Oakland’s frequent ability to generate late-inning magic. He endured plenty of heartbreak at the hands of the A’s while a member of the Rangers in recent years.

Now, on the other side, Andrus did his part to help Oakland establish itself once again as the walk-off capital of baseball. Friday’s thriller was the A’s sixth walk-off victory of the season, which leads the Majors.

“That was one of the reasons I loved joining the Oakland A’s,” Andrus said. “They never give up. It’s a team that plays until the last out. You can never count the A’s out until the last out, and I love that.

“Being part of this team motivates me to do what I did tonight. The whole mentality in the clubhouse is about winning and we’re not going to give up, no matter what. Tonight was a perfect example of that.”