The Oakland Athletics barely held on to beat the Diamondbacks on Monday afternoon, edging out a 6-5 victory. The A's gave up 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th but were able to hang on just long enough to grab the win.
Going into the bottom of the 9th with a 5-run lead, reliever Danis Correa proceeded to give up two runs on a pair of walks, two hit batters, and a single. Correa was pulled with the bases loaded and reliever Colin Peluse promptly walked the first two batters he faced, bringing the game to within one run.
Peluse was able to get outfielder Pavin Smith to fly out with the bases still loaded to wrap up the afternoon.
dub 👊 pic.twitter.com/GvW2s7Dqkj
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) March 11, 2024
It was a rough day for A's pitchers, who allowed a combined 9 walks on the day. After we wrote about the merits of Joe Boyle earlier this morning, the young righty went out and walked 5 Diamondbacks hitters in 3 innings.
Boyle allowed just one run on one hit and he notched a pair of strikeouts. Command problems have haunted Boyle throughout his minor league career and though they didn't bite him on the scoreboard this afternoon, we saw him consistently struggle to find the zone.
On the bright side, the Athletics' offense continues to stay hot. Second baseman Zack Gelof banged his 3rd homer of the spring off starter Ryne Nelson, grabbing three total hits on the day. Outfielder Miguel Andujar ripped a two-run double in the top of the 5th inning and is now hitting .414 with a 1.295 OPS this spring.
Shortstop Darell Hernaiz and outfielder Hoy Park each had two hits on the day. The latter now has a .348 batting average in 23 at-bats and is a dark horse candidate to get some playing time in Oakland this summer.
Righty Mason Miller was on point as well, touching triple-digits with the fastball and getting one strikeout in a scoreless 7th inning.
The Athletics return to Hohokam Stadium tomorrow afternoon to take on the Mariners in an afternoon affair. Athletics' lefty Alex Wood is scheduled to pitch against Mariners righty Bryce Miller. First pitch is at 1:05 pm PST.