OAKLAND — The A’s will not end their final homestand in Oakland without a win. After being swept by the Yankees this past weekend, the A’s began their final series at the Oakland Coliseum with a 5-4 walk-off win against the Rangers as Jacob Wilson delivered the game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning in front of an announced crowd of 30,402. The green and gold are now down to just two games remaining at the Coliseum, as well as five as the “Oakland A’s.
” Lawrence Butler inched closer to a 20-20 season, swiping his 18th bag of the season in the bottom of the first inning. Butler, who also has 22 homers, has yet to be thrown out on the bases and currently owns the franchise record for most steals without being caught. The Rangers opened the scoring with Adolis García’s RBI double in the top of the first inning, but the A’s responded with two runs of their own by way of RBI doubles from Shea Langeliers and Tyler Soderstrom to take a 2-1 lead.
Oakland expanded its advantage to 3-1 in the third inning as JJ Bleday’s groundout scored Lawrence Butler, but Texas tied the game at three apiece with a run in the fourth and a run in the fifth. The A’s took a 4-3 the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning on Zack Gelof’s sacrifice fly, but the Rangers tied the game, again, as former Athletic Jonah Heim snuck a solo homer over the left-center field fence in the eighth inning. Gelof began the ninth inning with a single to left field, then advanced to se.
