Shea Langeliers nearly dragged the Athletics to a split by himself.
Instead, the Blue Jays walked off the A’s again Saturday, this time with an 8-7 win in 11 innings at Rogers Centre. Ernie Clement lined the winning single to left off Luis Medina, scoring Nathan Lukes from second and sending the Athletics to an 0-2 start despite another huge night from Langeliers.
The A’s catcher finished 2-for-4 with a walk, a grand slam and four RBIs. One day after hitting both Oakland runs in a 3-2 loss, Langeliers again supplied the loudest swing in a game the Athletics still could not close.
Where it turned
For six innings, the game felt like another tight opener. Toronto led 1-0 after George Springer’s RBI double in the third, then answered Tyler Soderstrom’s tying double in the sixth with Daulton Varsho’s go-ahead RBI single in the bottom half.
Then the Athletics finally broke through in the seventh.
Jeff McNeil and Max Muncy opened the inning with singles before Andy Ibáñez struck out as a pinch-hitter. After that, McNeil and Muncy pulled off a double steal. Denzel Clarke followed with a game-tying single, and Nick Kurtz drew a walk to load the bases.
Soon after, Langeliers crushed a grand slam to center. The shot, his third homer in two games, gave the A’s a 6-2 lead and seemed to change the whole night.
But the lead did not hold.
Toronto got one back in the seventh against Mark Leiter Jr. and Elvis Alvarado. Then the Blue Jays pushed across two more in the eighth after Jesús Sánchez and Andrés Giménez delivered RBI singles. Michael Kelly escaped the bases-loaded jam, but only after the lead had shrunk to 6-5.
In the ninth, Alejandro Kirk tied it with a solo homer off Kelly. That erased another late A’s lead and forced extra innings.
The Athletics still had chances after that.
Brent Rooker drove in the automatic runner with a two-out single in the 10th to put the A’s back ahead, 7-6. But Giménez opened Toronto’s half with a single, moved up on a steal and scored on Addison Barger’s sacrifice fly against Scott Barlow.
That set up the 11th. The A’s could not cash in after Darell Hernaiz was thrown out at third on a fielder’s choice, and Medina could not make it stand. He struck out Kirk for the first out, then intentionally walked Varsho before Clement ended it with the winning hit.
Numbers that mattered
The Athletics struck out 19 times, but they still scored seven runs because they did damage in key spots. Langeliers drove in four. Soderstrom went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI. Clarke added a run-scoring single, while Rooker’s two-out hit in the 10th briefly looked like the difference.
Jeffrey Springs gave the A’s 5 1/3 innings and allowed two runs on five hits. He walked three and struck out two. After that, though, the bullpen could not lock it down. Leiter and Alvarado each allowed a run, Kelly blew the save in the ninth, Barlow allowed the tying run in the 10th, and Medina took the loss in the 11th.
Toronto finished with 14 hits. Giménez went 4-for-6 with two RBIs, and Clement had three hits, including the walk-off.
In the end, Langeliers gave the A’s another star turn. The Athletics still left Toronto with another late lead gone and another walk-off loss to explain.
Up next
The Athletics close their season-opening series in Toronto on Sunday at 10:37 a.m. PT. The A’s are scheduled to send Aaron Civale to the mound against Blue Jays left-hander Eric Lauer.
