A’s lose in 12 innings to Rockies

As frustrating a loss as you’ll see

The A’s fell to the Colorado Rockies in game two of the series, losing 4-3 in 12 innings in a tough loss for the club.

Kicking things off for the A’s tonight was rookie right-hander Mitch Spence. The 26-year old began the year in the bullpen but was making his second straight start for the club. His first one went well enough to earn him tonight’s start.

Spence was in trouble right away after a leadoff single started this game. He racked up a couple strikeouts and almost wiggled out of the jam but missed his location on a 1-1 pitch to Colorado cleanup hitter Elias Díaz. Diaz crushed a 2-run shot that made it 2-0 Rockies and they weren’t done. Another single and two more walks loaded the bases, really pushing Spence’s pitch count up early. He ended the inning on a good note escaping with a strikeout and leaving the bases loaded.

The Oakland offense meanwhile wasn’t managing much of anything against Colorado starter Austin Gomber. The left-hander retired the first ten batters he faced tonight. The 11th, though, finally broke through against Gomber. Outfielder JJ Bleday connected on a pitch down the middle for his sixth home run of the year to get the A’s on the board:

That was some lefty on lefty violence right there. That solo shot cut the Rockies lead in half so it was a start. Left fielder Brent Rooker hit a double right after the Bleday bomb but was stranded at second. And then the offense went quiet again, collecting just a single and subsequent double play in the sixth over the next few innings.

Back on the pitching side, Spence loaded the bases again in the third inning and again escaped, but at 70 pitches that would be it for the young righty tonight. Spence looked much more vulnerable tonight, allowing five hits and three walks. At least he limited the damage to that one home run.

It was the new guys’s turn next as righty Brandon Bielak took over to start the fourth. Colorado put runners in scoring position in all three of his innings of work but managed to get out of it each time, with an assist from lefty TJ McFarland in his last frame. They were followed by righties Michael Kelly and Lucas Erceg. At the end of the day the club would end up using six relievers in this one.

Oakland threatened again in the seventh getting a runner to second but stranded him, then went down 1-2-3 in the eighth. They were just waiting until the ninth to tie this game up. A single and walk brought up second baseman Zack Gelof, who got the biggest hit of the night with a 2-out game-tying RBI single:

Love to see it from the young second baseman. Gelof hasn’t had the best season to date even after returning from injury. Let’s hope tonight helped get him on the right track again.

That was all the A’s could get and we were headed to extras. Manager Mark Kotsay elected to keep Erceg in to start the 10th and Erceg made his decision look good, collecting a huge strikeout with a runner on third and barehanding a comebacker for the third out:

What a play! Oakland managed to get a runner to third in the bottom of the 10th but couldn’t cash in. Austin Adams took over for the 11th and one-upped Erceg, striking out the side in exciting fashion. Except the A’s did the exact same thing in the bottom half, striking out in order. The bullpen was doing everything it could to win this game.

It just couldn’t keep it up for another inning though. Lefty Kyle Muller came in for the 12th and allowed a 2-run shot to give the Rockies the lead once again. The A’s managed to score once in the bottom half and even got the tying run to second base but ultimately came up short, falling to the Rockies in game two 4-3 in 12 innings.

Dang. The A’s let that one slip away. Not the best feeling in the world when you lose an extra inning game in 12 innings, and especially like that. Tonight was also the team’s 15th straight game allowing opposing runs before even getting to hit. At least the bullpen showed up and did its job.

The A’s can still win the series tomorrow afternoon in the finale. Rookie right-hander Joey Estes is slated to make his third start of the season. His first went great and his second went… not so great. He’ll be opposed by fellow righty Ryan Feltner. Let’s get the sweep, A’s!