J.T. Ginn will return to the scene of one of the highlights of his starting pitching career on Friday night when the Athletics open a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif.
It also was one of the most devastating moments in the 27-year-old right-hander’s career.
Ginn went into the ninth inning on May 18 with a 1-0 lead over the Angels and flirting with throwing the 14th no-hitter in A’s history. Four minutes and just six pitches later, he was walking off the field following a 2-1 loss after Zach Neto hit a two-run homer 413 feet over the center-field fence.
Neto’s homer came three pitches after Adam Frazier singled to break up the no-hitter. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Ginn joined Rich Hill as only the second pitcher in the last 40 years to throw a complete-game, walk-off loss after allowing no hits over the first eight innings.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen that ever,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “He comes out for the ninth and didn’t get an out. Two hits, two runs, and game over. But he had good stuff all game, man.”
“It’s just a crazy game we play, you know?” said Ginn, who finished with 10 strikeouts. “I fell behind, threw a good sinker, and (Neto) was waiting on it and put a good swing on it. Tip your cap to him.”
Ginn (5-4, 3.16 ERA) is 1-3 with a 4.43 ERA in four career starts against the Angels. He is 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA in two career starts at Angel Stadium.
The Athletics head to Anaheim after rallying to snap a four-game losing streak with a 9-6 come-from-behind victory at San Francisco on Thursday afternoon.
The A’s trailed 6-2 after six innings but pulled out the victory thanks to a four-run ninth, with all of the runs coming with two outs. Jonah Heim drove in Henry Bolte to tie the score, Lawrence Butler followed with a go-ahead single to right, and Max Muncy added a two-run single to make it 9-6.
It was the 22nd comeback win of the season for the Athletics, who lead the American League in that category and rank fourth in MLB.
“It’s huge,” Heim said. “I feel like it’s a confidence boost for a lot of the guys in the clubhouse. We’re a young team, so being able to rally back like that is big for this team.”
Los Angeles, meanwhile, has won three straight home series and comes in off a 7-6, 10-inning comeback win of its own over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday.
Logan O’Hoppe hit a slow roller up the third-base line to drive in Nolan Schanuel with the winning run. Schanuel had tied the score with a weak grounder to second base that could have ended the game, but Orioles reliever Keegan Akin mishandled second baseman Jeremiah Jackson’s lob throw to first. The ball caromed off Akin’s glove, hit Schanuel and rolled down the first-base line, allowing Schanuel to ramble to third for a three-base error.
“It was wild,” Suzuki said.
Rookie right-hander Walbert Urena (5-5, 2.41 ERA), who helped the Angels earn a four-game series split with the Athletics last weekend in West Sacramento, Calif., will start Friday’s series opener.
Urena is 1-0 with an 0.00 ERA in two career starts against the A’s. He allowed four hits and struck out six over five shutout innings in a 7-0 victory over them last Saturday.
“He’s having a good season,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said afterward. “He’s got a plus-fastball that is mixed in with a pretty above average changeup, and he dominated with that tonight. Used his sweeper, too, to the righties. But the fastball-changeup mix had lefties a little bit off balance. Overall, sometimes you have to tip your cap to a good pitching performance. He did a nice job.”
–Field Level Media
