JJ Bleday hit Chad Green’s first pitch for a leadoff home run in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday night, delivering the Oakland Athletics a walk-off, 2-1 victory over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays.
Green was summoned to begin the ninth after Toronto starter Chris Bassitt threw eight innings of four-hit, one-run ball in a pitchers’ duel with Oakland’s Hogan Harris.
After A’s closer Mason Miller struck out two of the three guys he faced in a perfect top of the ninth, Bleday wasted no time ending it, blasting a Green slider into the right field bleachers for his ninth home run of the season and Oakland’s fourth walk-off win.
Miller (1-0), who went 0-3 last season as a rookie, was credited with his first big-league win. Green (1-1) took the loss in Toronto’s third walk-off defeat of the year.
Bassitt, who was with the A’s from 2015-16 and 2018-21, exited after his longest outing of the season.
En route to his first no-decision in 13 starts this season, the veteran right-hander took a two-hit shutout into the bottom of the sixth of a scoreless game before yielding consecutive singles to Max Schuemann and Abraham Toro. One out later, Schuemann got the A’s on the board first when he scampered home on a wild pitch.
Oakland pulled Harris at that point, after he had allowed just three hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out three.
The Blue Jays wasted no time taking advantage of the change, drawing even against reliever Austin Adams on a ground-rule double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and an RBI single by Bo Bichette.
Guerrero’s double was the game’s only extra-base hit until Bleday came to the plate in the ninth.
Bichette was the only player in the game with multiple hits, as he had two singles. The clubs split the game’s 10 total hits.
–Field Level Media
