OAKLAND — Joey Gallo hit a two-run home run with one out in the ninth Friday night to spoil the debut of prospects Tyler Soderstrom and Zack Gelof as the Minnesota Twins beat the Athletics 5-4 at the Coliseum before a crowd of 7,923.
Gallo’s homer, his 16th of the season, came on an 0-1 pitch against Shintaro Fujinami (5-8), who had pitched well in games out of the bullpen heading into the All-Star break and had induced an inning-ending double play against Carlos Correa to end the eighth.
The Athletics fell to 25-68 with their fifth straight defeat. Minnesota evened its record at 46-46 to go one game up on Cleveland in the A.L. Central.
The A’s rallied for a run in the ninth against Minnesota closer Jhoan Duran on a pinch-hit double and a run-scoring single by J.J. Bleday, but Seth Brown was retired on a ground ball to second with two runners aboard to end the game.
Griffin Jax (5-6) was the winning pitcher for Minnesota, with Duran picking up his 13th save.
Fujinami was the seventh A’s pitcher as manager Mark Kotsay emptied his bullpen after the All-Star break.
“Gallo likes the ball down and he got into his bat path,” Kotsay said. “He’s a swing and miss guy with a ton of power and the power got him tonight.”
Gelof, who played second base, had an RBI double in the third inning that was a foot or so shy from being a three-run home run to right center for his first major league hit with his family in attendance. Soderstrom, the designated hitter, was 0-for-3 with a walk.
✅ First @MLB hit
✅ First big league RBI
✅ Make your family proud pic.twitter.com/Xb0l7o0m78— Oakland A’s (@Athletics) July 15, 2023
“Both came as advertised,” Kotsay said. “The ball Gelof hit shows his power. They both took some good at-bats.”
Both starting pitcher were long gone by the time the game was decided.
The A’s Ken Waldichuk was ambushed i the first, giving up a double, single and a triple by the time the game was three batters old. A sacrifice fly by Byron Buxton and Kyle Farmer’s RBI triple gave the Twins a 2-0 lead. In the fourth, two Waldichuk walks prompted his removal, with Austin Pruitt surrendering a run-scoring double to pinch-hitter Edouardo Julien.
The A’s scored in the second on Nick Allen’s two-out RBI single to right. It brought home Shea Langeliers, who tripled to right on a ball Minnesota’s Max Kepler appeared to lose in the sun. The two runs in the rhid came courtesy of Gelof’s RBI double to right center and a sacrifice fly by Jace Peterson.
Maeda threw 80 pitches (52 strikes) in three innings, with Waldichuk throwing 74 (47 strikes) in 3 2/3 innings.