Esteury Ruiz, A's, Walk Off in 12

Tuesday's game started off similarly to Monday's loss, with the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks taking an early lead on a two-run homer and the A's starter not recording an out in the fifth inning. But thanks to a Ryan Noda grand slam in the seventh, some excellent relief work from Austin Pruitt in extras, and a walk-off single from Esteury Ruiz in the 12th, the A's came out on top in the second game of the series, 9-8. 

The player of the game has to be Pruitt, who has thrived in these types of situations in the past with the A's. He tossed all three extra innings with the automatic runner on second, and left the Diamondbacks not only scoreless--but without a hit--in his three innings of work. The only baserunner he allowed was an intentional walk to Corbin Carroll in the 11th. 

"I knew I was the last one in the bullpen right there, so it was going to be either win or lose with me." His approach in extras was to just fill up the zone, which he did. Pruitt needed just 23 pitches to get through those three frames, and 19 of those pitches were strikes. 

Manager Mark Kotsay said of his reliever's performance, "Pruitt's night, coming in and throwing three innings there, holding the Diamondbacks in extra innings to zero runs is pretty remarkable."

Of course, he doesn't get to pitch those innings without Ryan Noda's grand slam in the seventh. Noda came on in the fifth inning as a pinch hitter once Arizona's left-handed starter Tommy Henry exited the game, and struck out with a runner on. In his next at-bat he came up with the bases full and was just looking for a good pitch to hit that he could drive. 

"We needed four runs, and one swing got us four." 

Starter Kyle Muller went four innings, gave up eight hits, five earned runs, struck out three and didn't allow a walk. The lefty admitted that he saw the graphic posting his stats for when he faces a lineup the third time, which included a .576 batting average against coming into the game. 

He says that those numbers don't weigh on him when he gets to that point in the game. "It's tough because that fifth inning the three guys I gave up hits to, I had them at two strikes. I had the first two guys 0-2, and then the next guy 2-2. I hung that slider in the first inning which is unfortunate. After that we got in a groove." 

His takeaway from tonight's game is that he has to execute better with two strikes. "I thought I filled up the zone for the most part the whole game, and then when I needed to put somebody away I didn't. I think that's the focus from here on out." 

Notes: Nick Allen went 3-for-5 with his first home run of the season. He is 9-for-22 (.409) since his conversation about his approach at the plate with Mark Kotsay. 

Garrett Acton gave up a home run when he came on in relief of Muller, but gutted his way through two innings to get the bullpen to the seventh inning. He needed 51 pitches to get there (30 strikes). Mark Kotsay said postgame "He stepped up."