Shea Langeliers belted a tiebreaking two-run homer in the top of the 10th inning and the Athletics held on for a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night in Minneapolis.
Tyler Soderstrom went 2-for-3 with a double, a homer and two runs for the A’s, who earned their fourth win in five games. The Athletics will go for a three-game sweep on Thursday afternoon.
Brooks Lee went 3-for-4 with an RBI double to lead Minnesota at the plate. Trevor Larnach finished 2-for-5 with an RBI.
Langeliers continued his torrid stretch since the All-Star break. He hammered an outside fastball to the opposite field for his 28th homer of the season, his second in as many games and his American League-leading 15th in 29 games since the break.
Athletics right-hander Michael Kelly (3-2) pitched two-thirds of an inning to earn the victory. He was one of five relievers to follow rookie starter J.T. Ginn, who allowed two runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked two.
Twins left-hander Genesis Cabrera (0-1) gave up two runs (one earned) on one hit in 1 1/3 innings. He also was part of a handful of relievers to follow starter Bailey Ober, who allowed two runs on three hits in 5 2/3 innings. Ober walked one and fanned seven.
A’s right-hander Tyler Ferguson pitched a scoreless 10th inning to collect his second save.
The Athletics started the scoring in the second inning. Soderstrom hit a leadoff double, advanced to third base on a groundout by Lawrence Butler and scored on a sacrifice fly by Darell Hernaiz.
Soderstrom struck again in the fourth to increase the Athletics’ lead to 2-0. He belted a 426-foot shot to center for his 23rd homer of the season, adding to his career high.
The Twins evened the score at 2-all in the fifth.
Larnach stepped to the plate with a runner on second and two outs, and he delivered with a single to left that drove in James Outman. Moments later, Lee doubled to center, knocking in Larnach.
–Field Level Media
