California’s West Sacramento (AP) The Athletics defeated the Atlanta Braves 5-4 in 11 innings thanks to Tyler Soderstrom’s big home run to start the game and his one-out RBI single to end it.
With his winning hit that plated automatic runner Brent Rooker, Soderstrom went 3 for 5 with four RBIs.
Since they swept the New York Mets in a three-game homestand on June 17–19, the Braves have lost 11 of their last 14 games and haven’t won a series. Since then, Atlanta has shared one series with the Mets and lost five others.
The A’s took a 3-0 lead in the first inning thanks to Soderstrom’s 445-foot three-run missile to right center.
In his 100th appearance, JP Sears struck out five of the first 11 Braves batters he faced and retired the next 11. Sears’ 15 1/3 shutout innings, the second-longest active stretch after Detroit’s Tarik Skubal (18), came to an end when Austin Riley and Sean Murphy doubled back-to-back to put the Braves on the scoreboard with two outs in the fourth.
Then, with a two-run blast to left field, Jurickson Profar eliminated the deficit.
Nick Kurtz of the A’s and Ozzie Albies of the Braves traded home runs to force extra innings.
At first pitch, the temperature was 99 degrees (37 degrees Celsius), the highest recorded for an A’s home game since daily measurements began in 1991. When the then-Kansas City A’s faced the New York Yankees on July 27, 1956, it reached 101 degrees, the maximum temperature ever recorded for an Athletics home game.
Key moment
Over the course of six scoreless innings, five A’s relievers gave up just one hit.
Key stat
Mason Miller, a closer, hit a pitch that clocked at 104.1 mph in the ninth inning and struck out Sean Murphy. All five of the pitches he threw were at least 102.4 mph.
Up next
In the first game of a three-game series, Toronto Blue Jays RHP Max Scherzer (0-0, 4.77 ERA) takes on A’s RHP Luis Severino (2-10, 5.30).
