Run it back! A's walk off to beat Mariners for 2nd straight night

OAKLAND – Tuning into an A’s game is a guarantee for an exciting finish these days.

Tuesday night was no different.

Coming to the plate in the ninth inning of a tie ballgame with runners on first and second, Seth Brown roped a single to right off Mariners reliever Trent Thornton that scored JJ Bleday from second base to secure a 3-2 walk-off victory at the Coliseum -- Oakland's second-consecutive walk-off win over Seattle.

For a fourth day in a row, the A’s were involved in a game that ended in walk-off fashion, having also lost via walk-off to the Rangers on Saturday and Sunday. The last time the A’s had a four-game stretch of walk-offs? May 30-June 3, 2004, which began with a loss followed by three wins.

“Your adrenaline is constantly going out there,” said Brown, who also bashed a game-tying 410-foot solo home run off Luis Castillo in the fourth. “That’s what makes baseball fun: Those games right there. We’re in the moment right now and enjoying it. We’re fighting every pitch right now. These are the games you play for. It’s fun.”

Tuesday’s win was eerily similar to Monday’s, which ended on a towering solo blast by Shea Langeliers. Both games saw the A’s overcome an early two-run deficit and enter the ninth with the game tied before finishing it off in dramatic fashion.

The early-season version of this rebuilding A’s club might have let such a game slip away. But as the final stretch of the 2024 campaign approaches, these young A’s have gained newfound confidence by performing as one of the better teams in baseball in recent months. Since July 1, Oakland’s 31-22 record trails only the Astros (33-22) and Tigers (32-23) for best in the American League.

“The team has really shown their character,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “They’re confident in the way they go about playing this game. Even though they got down early the last two nights, there’s never a feeling in that dugout that they’re out of the game right now. … It’s been a difficult last two seasons. To keep our heads down and continue to teach and believe in the processes, to see the guys really start performing and becoming impact big league players is very gratifying from our standpoint.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do, because we want to be a championship team. I think these guys have the ability to become that. We’re seeing it in front of our eyes right now.”

That development was evident in multiple facets on Tuesday.

J.T. Ginn showed it on the mound. Making his second Major League start, the rookie right-hander limited Seattle to two runs on five hits and one walk with seven strikeouts across six innings.

Making Ginn’s first career quality start all the more impressive was how it began. The Mariners took a 2-0 lead three batters into the game on Cal Raleigh’s two-run double. After that, Ginn bounced back by striking out three in a row and ended up retiring 16 of his final 19 batters faced.

“Pretty incredible,” Kotsay said. “To get hit the way he did his first three hitters and then lock in with three strikeouts to get out of that inning, he walked off that mound with the confidence he needed to continue in that game and perform the way he did.”

Lawrence Butler continued development into a star also continued.

Before the game, Butler was named AL Player of the Week after going 14-for-28 with six homers, three doubles, 10 RBIs and recording five multi-hit games in six games last week. It was the second time the 24-year-old outfielder has won the award this season, joining Scott Brosius (1996), Rickey Henderson (1990), Tony Armas (1981), Mitchell Page (1977) and Rollie Fingers (1976) as the only players in Oakland history to win the award twice in one season.

Leading off the bottom of the first inning, Butler jumped on a 2-2 changeup from Castillo and launched it over the wall in right-center for a 408-foot solo shot. It was Butler’s 21st home run of the year and 19th since July 1 -- he trails only Aaron Judge in that span.

“Two [awards] in the same year is crazy,” Butler said. “I’m just honored and blessed. … I’m not done. There’s still a month left and I feel like we’ve still got a bunch of games left where I can go out there and do anything. I’m just going to keep grinding and see how the year finishes up for us.”