Aging Coliseum strikes again, hole in wall possibly costs Reddick, Hill, A’s reward of victory

The decaying Coliseum added another dubious chapter to its legacy Saturday night, costing Josh Reddick an RBI triple, Rich Hill a possible win in his mound return and the A’s very likely a victory.

With a crowd of 26,846 in the house awaiting a postgame pyrotechnics show, Oakland was burned by its own ballpark –a hole at the base of the right field wall in fair territory that short-circuited an A’s rally and ultimately led to a 4-2 Pittsburgh Pirates victory in 10 innings.

With two outs in the fifth inning and Jed Lowrie on first base for the A’s, Reddick hammered a ball over the head off Pittsburgh right fielder Sean Rodriguez for what appeared would give the A’s the go-ahead run with the score tied 2-2. Lowrie steamed all the way around the bases to score, while Reddick scampered into third.

When Reddick turned around to look into right field, however, Rodriguez was holding both hands up – the ball had lodged in a small opening at the base of the fence and Reddick had somehow found the hole on the fly.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v886056783/?query=reddick

“I’ve never hit a hole-in-one before, even in golf,” said Reddick, who went 4 for 4 with a walk. “So guess this is going to have to count. It just sucks it got stuck, because Jed was going to score.”

It was a rude “ace,” to be sure. The umpiring crew quickly invoked Rule 5.06 B-4 (f), ruling two bases on a dead ball that rolls under an obstruction – in this case, the fence. Hence, Lowrie had to return to third base, Reddick to second, and Danny Valencia then left them both stranded when he grounded out to shortstop.

Reddick said the hole has been there for awhile. He said the opening is where a wheel is inserted to open a gate in right field. He never believed he would ever be victimized by it, particularly as a hitter.

“It was very frustrating because it could have won the game,” he said. “Over the years, I’ve obviously seen it, but you never really pay attention to it. After it happened, I went out and looked – it’s literally a 3-inch gap, just large enough to put a baseball in. I’ll have to talk to (head groundskeeper Clay Wood) about patching it up.”

Manager Bob Melvin had a brief discussion with crew chief Gerry Davis but did not dispute the ruling, and the upshot was that neither team could push across a go-ahead run over the first nine innings.

“I don’t know what to say,” Melvin said. “It’s just very unfortunate because that’s definitely a run.”

It was a bitter way to reach the halfway point of the season. The defeat left A’s, now 35-46, with their sixth-worst record after 81 games since moving to the Coliseum in 1968.

The Pirates finally broke through in the 10th against the A’s fifth pitcher, Daniel Coulumbe (1-1). No. 9 hitter Eric Kratz opened the inning with a single to left, was sacrificed to second by Jody Mercer and them scored on another single to left by David Freese. Pittsburgh subsequently added an insurance run on a Gregory Polanco RBI single.

It ruined a night in which Hill, who has been out since May 29 with a strained left groin, came off the disabled list and delivered six strong innings in which he allowed just four hits, two walks and struck out six.

The A’s gave Hill a 2-0 lead with two runs in the bottom of the third off Pirates starter Chad Kuhl. Billy Burns opened the rally with leadoff single and went to third on Coco Crisp’s double to right, the 300th two-base hit of Crisp’s career. Lowrie delivered a sacrifice fly to right for the A’s first run, then Reddick singled for to left for the second score.

Pittsburgh got both runs back against Hill in the top of the fourth, however, on RBI hits by Starling Marte and Josh Harrison, and it had the veteran left-hander in a sour mood despite his solid performance.

“When your team scores two runs for you, you’ve got to have a shutdown inning right there,” Hill said.

The Pirates could inflict no further damage against Hill, however, and he proceeded to finish his outing by retiring the final seven batters he faced over the final 2 1/3 innings. Of his 83 pitches, he wound up throwing 61 strikes.

John Axford, Ryan Dull and Ryan Madson followed up Hill with a scoreless inning apiece to send the game into extras. Juan Nicasio (6-6), the Pirates’ fourth pitcher, got the victory by pitching a scoreless bottom of the ninth and Mark Melancon pitched the 10th for his 23rd save.

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Catcher Josh Phegley woke up Saturday with a flare-up of his right knee and could be headed to the disabled list, although Melvin wouldn’t commit to that and the player wasn’t sure, either.
“I got treatment on it and hopefully it feels better (Sunday),” Phegley said.
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Even though he was not involved in the process, Melvin was excited about Oakland’s five international signings, most notably 17-year-old Cuban outfielder Lazaro Armenteros, who has drawn comparisons to former A’s standouts Yoenis Cespedes and Frank Thomas.

“We’ll take either,” Melvin said. “If we’re making comparisons on either of those two, I’d be happy.”

Melvin said if Dominican Republic signee George Bell, a third baseman, is anything his power-hitting father who once starred for the Toronto Blue Jays, the A’s have another gem to look forward to in the future

“George was as prime-time a player as it got,” Melvin said. “He was a guy you didn’t want up there with the game on the line. He was dangerous in big situations, I distinctly remember that.”