It’s a game of inches all right. One moment Chad Pinder is missing a 9th inning go-ahead HR off the tippy top of the LF wall and Blake Treinen’s warm ups take the form of “in case the A’s take the lead” instead of “getting ready for the save opportunity”. Because the A’s don’t have a Babe Ruthian force like Brandon Drury in their lineup, Pinder is stranded and a tie game goes to the bottom of the 9th.
Robbie Grossman’s dramatic pinch hit HR that tied the game in the 8th, and the A’s inability to break the tie in the top of the 9th, forced Bob Melvin to make choices about how to handle a tie game on the road without Lou Trivino in the fold.