After last-minute call and little sleep, Harris pitches a gem

ST. PETERSBURG -- A’s left-hander Hogan Harris had one of his best performances as a big leaguer Thursday as he allowed one earned run (three total) over 5 2/3 innings in Oakland’s 6-5 loss in 12 innings to the Rays.

That’s a stellar outing from someone making his first MLB start of the season. It was even more impressive considering that, about 22 hours earlier, Harris had no idea he needed to be at Tropicana Field. And he was about 2,300 miles away from the ballpark.

Harris was instead preparing for his day with the club’s Triple-A affiliate, the Las Vegas Aviators. But with left-hander Kyle Muller, the A’s scheduled starter for Thursday, going to the IL with left shoulder tendinitis, Harris got the news, threw a short side session at the ballpark and then did his best to get to Florida, quickly.

“Hurried up, went to get my wife to drop me off at the airport and then just headed over here,” Harris said. “Luckily, I was able to get about an hour or two of sleep on the flight.”

Harris’ plane landed at about 5:30 a.m. ET. He said he got a few more hours of sleep at the team hotel and was running on adrenaline as he matched his career best with seven strikeouts against the Rays.

“'I’m sure I’ll probably hit a wall at about 7 or 8 [o’clock] tonight,” Harris said.

Making his seventh start since he made his MLB debut with Oakland in 2023, Harris threw 69 of his 102 pitches for strikes and set a personal best with 17 swings and misses, 12 of which came on his four-seamer, which averaged 93.3 mph.

Harris served up a homer in each of the first two innings. A two-run dinger by Isaac Paredes in which both runs were unearned due to an error by center fielder JJ Bleday was followed by a Jose Siri solo shot in the second inning. But the 27-year-old then allowed only one hit over his remaining 4 2/3 innings of work.

“It says a lot about the guy,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “He’s been in this role a little bit where he's been up and down and called up a few times -- maybe not necessarily on a red-eye to make a start, Hogan has handled this role really well.”

“I think me and [catcher Shea Langeliers] were just on the same page,” Harris said. “He was reading hitters really well, and I was able to execute for the most part what he was calling. Overall, I just did my best to throw to the glove, and it worked out.”

Langeliers’ 12th homer of the season capped a four-run third inning that put Oakland in front and had Harris in line for the win heading to the bottom of the ninth.

However, closer Mason Miller suffered his first blown save of the season when Siri was able to get his barrel to a 100 mph fastball on the inside corner and pull it a Statcast-projected 407 feet to left for a game-tying home run.

“That's where I was trying to go,” Miller said about his pitch location. “Looking back over it, I wish I had went somewhere else, obviously. … I felt like I got it in there, but not far enough. Good swing.”

The A’s regained the lead in the top of the 10th when leadoff man Abraham Toro slapped a single to left to drive in Max Schuemann. It was Toro’s third hit of the afternoon and his 38th of the month, second to only Padres second baseman Luis Arraez (40). Toro’s 14 multihit games in May lead the Majors, and his 38 hits are the most by an A’s player in a month since Starling Marte racked up 41 hits in August 2021.

“We hear guys say this all the time, but you want to ride the wave as long as you can,” Toro said about his hot hitting. “When you have success, you don't want to take it for granted.”

But after Miller allowed another run in the 10th, the Rays won it in the 12th on outfielder Richie Palacios’ RBI single off lefty T.J. McFarland, giving the A’s back-to-back walk-off losses for the first time since last Aug. 12-13.

“After last night -- it was a tough loss -- they bounced back today and showed their fight,” Kotsay said. “I think this group is resilient. They've got some fight to them. We're headed to Atlanta. It’s a tough series in front of us, so we'll see how we bounce back tomorrow.”