Allgeyer’s Walk-off Hit Caps Ninth Inning Comeback
Oakland Rallies for Four in the Ninth
By Tyler Petersen
Oakland, Calif. –
The old idiom goes "You should never look a gift horse in the mouth"; in baseball it's especially true if that gift horse happens to be four walks in the bottom of the ninth.
The Oakland Ballers staged one of their biggest – and latest – comebacks of the year, scoring four in the ninth to win 7-6 over the Yuba-Sutter HighWheelers.
Oakland's hitters had only two singles in the four-run inning and were buoyed by four walks, two with the bases loaded. The finishing blow was delivered by Jake Allgeyer, who shot a two-run single to right field, plating Esai Santos and Darryl Buggs.
Yuba reliever Mason Bryant, who went one-two-three in the eighth, had trouble with the strike zone in the ninth, giving free passes to the first two hitters then giving up a single to Santos. Lou Helmig drew the first of two bases loaded walks and Bryant was replaced by closer Ethan Bates. He surrendered the second of the two bases loaded walks, right before Allgeyer's big hit.
It ends up being Bryant's second loss in five days, his only two losses on the season.
Forgotten in the rancor of the ninth inning was a great start by Noah Millikan, who pitched 5.2 innings of two-run baseball, and a great relief appearance by Brody Eglite who earned a deserved win.
This marks Oakland's sixth straight win, all against the HighWheelers. In this elongated 12-game series, the Ballers are 6-1 through the first seven games. They improve to 51-16 on the year and 14-5 in the second half.
Oakland will attempt to go for its seventh win in a row tomorrow. Make sure you tune in to the action tomorrow for game two of the series at 6:30 PM PDT on 860 AM The Answer and the Ballers YouTube channel.
