Matt Olson hits walk-off grand slam in first extra innings, fans go gaga about shot that 'went to Neptune'
It was a day of surprises and history was made at MLB. As USA Today reports, the first extra-inning tiebreaker game of the season also featured its first walk-off. By rule, a runner is placed at second base to begin all extra innings this year to assist in reaching a conclusion. After batters loaded the bases, Athletics first baseman Matt Olson launched a walk-off grand slam off Angels reliever Hoby Milner to give Oakland a 7-3 win.
The report states, in the top of the inning, Olson – a two-time Gold Glove winner – made a heads-up play to cut down a runner advancing to third on a ground ball hit to the right side. And as predicted, Twitter was abuzz after the game. A fan tweeted, “My good man Hoby Milner came in, threw a single pitch, Matt Olson sent it to Neptune, then heads right to the showers. Tough day at the ole office.” Another tweeted, “OMG What an insane play by Matt Olson. This dude.” A fan praised saying, “The Greatest Home Run call ever on Matt Olson's walk-off Grand Slam.” Another said, “MATT OLSON. My Goodness. Walkoff Grand Slam off seeing a single pitch. An incredible defensive play to get out Ohtani at 3rd in extras. The best 1st baseman in baseball!”
However, skeptics weren’t far behind. Baseball analyst Ryan M Spaeder tweeted, “#Athletics Matt Olson is the first player in baseball history to hit a fake grand slam.” A user concurred, saying, “That was the ugliest inning of baseball I’ve ever watched.”
Meanwhile, a Yahoo report also praised Marcus Semien. He began the bottom of the 10th at second, and after Ramon Laureano was hit by a pitch and Matt Chapman struck out, a wild pitch allowed both A's runners to advance a base, placing the winning run on third.
As reported by Cape Breton Post, the A's took advantage of the free inning-opening baserunner by starting Semien on second base. He was at third while Laureano, who was hit by a pitch, was at second, and Khris Davis, who had walked, was at first when Joe Maddon brought in left-hander Milner to replace Hansel Robles (0-1) and he delivered the game-ending pitch to Olson. Olson belted Milner's first pitch, a 77 mph curveball, deep beyond the right field fence. Under the new rules being used on a trial basis in this shortened season, Shohei Ohtani became MLB's first "designated runner" when he took second base to start the top of the 10th with the game tied at 3-3. He was immediately erased on a grounder to Olson, the A's first baseman, who alertly gunned down Ohtani at third.
As reported by NBC sports, the chemistry between Oly and Chappy shined through, but it didn’t necessarily mean they were planning for that specific moment. “We talk about it a bunch, not necessarily for this scenario, but for the past, just different times, with a lefty up, guy on second, we feel like [Chapman]'s athletic enough to get over the bag and I feel like I have a good arm to get it across and maybe get an out,” Olson said in the postgame interview. “Obviously going forward, if we get into extras this is something that’s going to be open — luckily Chappy made a nice pick and they got the rundown done, but I think it was big.”
