OAKLAND, CALIF. – Several times Monday night, the Oakland Coliseum scoreboard promoted the upcoming 50th-anniversary reunion of the Athletics 1972 World Series champions.
As if in tribute, the Twins played a little throwback baseball.
Gary Sanchez clobbered a 433-foot home run and Jorge Polanco singled home Royce Lewis, but the tiebreaking run in the Twins' 3-1 victory over Oakland was set up by the most old-fashioned of strategies: A sacrifice bunt.
Those 1972 A's, one of last AL teams to record 100 sacrifice bunts in a season, would be so proud.
When Lewis drew a walk to lead off the fifth inning of a tie game, manager Rocco Baldelli gave the rarely used bunt sign. Nick Gordon squared around and laid down a bunt that pitcher Zach Logue fielded and threw to first base, only the second successful Twins sacrifice bunt — and fifth bunt of any kind — this season.
"It was a sign" from the dugout, Gordon said, though Baldelli deflected credit for the call. "I'm glad, because I was thinking the same thing."
Three pitches later, Byron Buxton hit a sharp grounder through the hole at shortstop, and Lewis easily scored the go-ahead run that was enough to earn their fourth consecutive low-scoring victory against Oakland. The Twins have scored only 10 runs against A's pitching this season — but that's twice as many as they have allowed, giving them a 1.35 ERA.
Yes, against the lowly A's, whose team batting average dipped below .200 with a 4-for-30 night, even single-run strategies are effective. Chris Archer held Oakland to two hits and one run — Elvis Andrus, 10-for-20 in his career against the righthander, doubled home Seth Brown, who had walked — while relievers Yennifer Cano, Griffin Jax and Tyler Duffey combining for five scoreless innings on just two hits.
