Kyle Stowers turned around a 102-mph fastball for a walk-off grand slam as the Miami Marlins rallied to defeat the Athletics 9-6 on Saturday afternoon.
Stowers’ homer off All-Star closer Mason Miller (0-1) was a 396-foot, opposite-field shot to left center that snapped Miami’s six-game losing streak.
With the A’s leading 6-4, Miller started the ninth inning by hitting Matt Mervis. Connor Norby and Dane Myers struck out, but Javier Sanoja doubled and Mervis scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-5.
After walks to Ronny Simon and Xavier Edwards loaded the bases, Stowers hammered Miller’s first pitch.
Stowers, who boosted his average to .324 and slugging percentage to .552, finished the game with two homers and six RBIs to continue his hot week. He swatted two home runs and drove in four runs Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The A’s JJ Bleday continued to terrorize his former team, homering for the second straight game.
Bleday, Miami’s first-round pick in 2019, is 4-for-8 with five runs, two homers, one double, two RBIs and one walk in the first two games of this series.
The Athletics, who are 12-7 on the road, also got homers from Brent Rooker and Luis Urias.
Rooker’s homer gave the A’s a 1-0 lead just eight pitches into the game. Bleday’s shot made it 2-0 in the second.
Stowers tied the score 2-2 in the third with a 422-foot shot off Athletics starter Osvaldo Bido, who allowed four runs and three hits over five innings. He also walked two and fanned four.
With the score 4-4 in the sixth, the A’s forced starting pitcher Max Meyer out of the game as they loaded the bases with no outs on two singles and a walk. Lefty reliever Anthony Veneziano came in to face lefty-swinging Nick Kurtz, but Kurtz won the battle with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-4.
The A’s made it 6-4 in the eighth on Gio Urshela’s RBI double, but the Marlins came storming back.
