OAKLAND, Calif. — Athletics designated hitter Jesus Aguilar wasn’t interested in reliving one of the most epic at-bats you’ll ever see in the aftermath of a 6-4, 10-inning loss Wednesday to the Cleveland Guardians.
The A’s had done nothing and trailed 4-0 in the eighth until Ryan Noda led off with a solo home run to right off relief pitcher Nick Sandlin. Sandlin got the next two outs, giving way to Tim Herrin.
Herrin walked the next two batters. Aguilar fell behind 0-2 and eventually worked the count to 2-2. He fouled off seven pitches in all, and finally on the 12th-pitch of the at-bat, launched a three-run game-tying home run left center.
The next hitter, Seth Brown, nearly made it back-to-back home runs for a 5-4 A’s lead but his drive to center was caught at the fence by Myles Straw.
“No one cares,” Aguilar said. “We want to win. It was good, but it wasn’t good enough. It’s not about me.”
A’s shortstop Nick Allen stranded the potential game-winning run in the ninth with a comebacker to winning pitcher Eli Morgan (1-0), and for the second time in the three-game series, Cleveland (5-2) scored two in the top of the 10th to prevail before a crowd of 4,930.
Zach Jackson (0-1) walked Straw with free runner Andres Gimenez at second. The runners went to second and third on a wild pitch, with Will Brennan plating the first run on an infield out and Steven Kwan singling in the second.
Emmanuel Clase, the Cleveland closer who blew a save Monday night when Brown hit a two-run, two-out homer in the ninth, held the Athletics scoreless in the bottom of the 10th for his second save.
Thus concluded a 2-4 opening homestand with three to-the-wire finishes against the defending A.L. Central champions, with the A’s winning Tuesday night on a walk-off single by Tony Kemp.
“We didn’t win the series but I think we showed we can play with a playoff contending team for sure,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said.
The Athletics had just a single hit against Cleveland starter Hunter Gaddis (six innings) and Sandlin in the seventh before coming out of nowhere in the eighth. Noda’s leadoff homer provided the spark, and Aguilar’s served as a study in perseverance.
“It’s one of the better at-bats I’ve seen in a long time,” Kotsay said. “You could tell he as getting more locked in, more locked in, on each pitch, and got us back into the game on one pitch.”
Noda, whose first major league homer capped a homestand that included his first big-league hit and scoring the winning run Tuesday night in a walk-off win, said Ramon Laureano gave a pep talk before the eighth inning.
“We try to feed off each other and it was a good move by him, being a leader, getting us going,” Noda said. “The one swing thankfully got us going . . . . we’re going to keep fighting. There’s some wins in this team that are coming.”
Lost in the late-inning flurry was another solid outing for A’s rookie left-hander Kyle Muller, who gave up one run in five innings in a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Opening Day.
Although the 6-foot-7 left-hander had only one 1-2-3 inning, Muller made quality pitches when it mattered and went 5 2/3 innings before Kotsay pulled the plug after 95 pitches in favor Domingo Acevedo. Muller had hit Gimenez with a pitch and gave up an infield single to Straw with two out.
No. 9 hitter Cam Gallagher jumped on the first pitch he saw to drive in both runs, both of which were charged to Muller. Muller said he wanted to stay in the game, conceding that’s what he’s always going to say. Kotsay had no regrets on taking him out.
“Acevedo has been that guy,” Kotsay said. “He’s been that guy all last year to come in and get big outs. Gallagher jumped on a first-pitch fastball that was up and got the result.”
Muller was encouraged by his second solid start.
“I’ve wanted this chance to come up here, start eery five days and put the team in the best spot to win and that’s all I can do,” Muller said. “A couple of things haven’t gone our way. We’ve got a bunch of new guys that really haven’t gotten a chance to play with each other. Once we sharpen up some things, we’ll get on a pretty good roll.”
A two-run single by Gimenez in the seventh Adrian Martinez extended Cleveland’s lead to 4-0 before the A’s broke loose in the eighth.
NOTABLE
— After an opening series against the Angels that drew 57,200 and included Opening Day as well as league-wide attraction Shohei Ohtani, the Guardians three games totaled 11,372.
— Kwan, the Guardians leadoff hitter by way of Washington High in Fremont and Oregon State, has hit safely in all eight career games against the Athletics, has five games with multiple hits and a .421 on-base percentage.
— The A’s, who came in having made an error in five straight games, made it six straight when Laureano dropped a fly ball in the second inning. They added a second error later on a throw to second by catcher Shea Langeliers. The streak of six straight games with an error is the longest season-opening streak in the last 47 years.
— Rather than take a dress code flight to Tampa, the A’s donned new sweat suits with hoodies for the six-hour flight to begin a seven-game trip to face the Rays and the Baltimore Orioles.
