OAKLAND, Calif. – Wyatt Langford and Adolis García homered to help the Texas Rangers spoil the final scheduled night baseball game at the Oakland Coliseum, beating the Athletics 5-1 on Wednesday.
An animated crowd of 35,270 came out on a chilly late September evening, regularly chanting “Sell the team!” as a message to owner John Fisher. The A's have played in the Coliseum since 1968 and are scheduled to move to Sacramento for at least the next three seasons while waiting for a ballpark they hope to open in Las Vegas.
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A tribute video to the Coliseum played on the big screen before the game, and the grounds crew has written “Thank You Oakland” into the outfield grass for the final series. Fireworks were shot off in the parking lot outside after the game as fans lingered inside as long as possible with music blaring — just not wanting to leave this one-of-a-kind old gem of a venue.
Oakland manager Mark Kotsay and wife Jamie strolled hand in hand to the outfield where he once roamed as a player for the A's, and the manager waved and tipped his cap to those still around. He hugged members of the grounds crew, snapped photos and signed autographs.
Security will be elevated for Thursday afternoon’s sold-out finale, and Kotsay didn’t feel he needed to speak publicly to fans afterward but rather let the club’s play honor the fans.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, the longtime skipper in San Francisco, appreciated all of the nostalgia.
“It's going to be crazy out here, sold out,” Bochy said. “And tonight, you saw the noise and the banging of the drums. This is what I'm used to coming here. It's a fun environment. I think the guys are enjoying it.”
A night earlier, the A’s won 5-4 on Jacob Wilson’s single in the ninth. Kotsay typically tears up the lineup card after each game and throws it away. After ripping this one, he thought twice about tossing it. Instead, he kept it — knowing it might the final victory in Oakland for his club.
He touched on how unique it is being part of the A's, no matter whether as a fan, player, coach, manager or ballpark employee.
“Baseball is baseball, but cities are different. Every city has its own characteristic,” Kotsay said. “Whether it's important or not isn't really the issue, it's whether you can embrace and whether you appreciate it, like everything in life. We all want to feel comfortable and I think that's what this city makes you feel, comfortable.
"The fans, even though over the last few years have had anger because of the fact that we're leaving, there's a certain comfortability to playing here. And understanding that maybe playing in front of 3,000 fans but those 3,000 fans are still showing up and still going to be passionate about the game, which makes that special.”
In another nod to Oakland, MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” played between Texas batters in the sixth.
Texas jumped on Brady Basso (1-1), who allowed four hits and a walk before recording an out. Langford hit a two-run homer in the first, and García added a two-run drive in the third.
Basso was tagged for five runs and six hits in three innings.
Matt Festa (6-1) got the win. He pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Rangers starter Cody Bradford.
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Rangers RHP Kumar Rocker (0-1, 2.57 ERA) makes his third career start in the series final opposite A's RHP J.T. Ginn (0-1, 4.40 ERA).
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