Three two-run home runs. Three consecutive innings. One of the wildest comebacks you will see all season.
The Athletics trailed the Los Angeles Angels 11-4 entering the bottom of the sixth inning Friday night at Sutter Health Park. What followed was a stunning rally — Jacob Wilson in the seventh, Max Muncy in the eighth, and Jonah Heim with a two-out, pinch-hit game-tying blast in the ninth — that flipped the game completely. Nick Kurtz walked with the bases loaded in the 10th to force home the winning run, giving Oakland a 12-11 victory that stands as the largest comeback of the season.
The win pulled the A's back to .500 at 38-38 and moved them within a half-game of the Seattle Mariners for first place in the AL West. It was also their 21st comeback victory of the season, the most in the American League.
Kotsay Gets Ejected, A's Fall Behind Early
Things started well enough for the A's. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first two innings against Angels pitching, and the sellout crowd in West Sacramento had reason for optimism. But the momentum shifted quickly.
Manager Mark Kotsay was ejected in the bottom of the second inning after arguing balls and strikes, forcing acting manager Darren Bush to take over. From there, the Angels exploded. Starter Jeffrey Springs allowed six runs on four hits and four walks over just 3 2/3 innings. Reliever Justin Sterner fared no better, and by the time the top of the fifth ended, the Angels had scored 11 unanswered runs. What was a 4-0 A's lead had turned into an 11-4 deficit.
Kotsay watched the rest of the game from his office. He joked afterward about the view, but what he saw from his TV screen turned into something special.
Three Homers, Three Innings, One Epic Rally
The comeback did not happen all at once. It came in waves, one inning at a time.
Zack Gelof started the rally in the sixth with an RBI single that cut the lead to 11-5. It was a small step, but it extended Gelof's hitting streak to 23 games — the longest active streak in the major leagues.
In the seventh, Jacob Wilson stepped to the plate against left-hander Mitch Farris and launched a two-run homer to bring the A's within four runs. The crowd started to believe.
In the eighth, Max Muncy — who entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the sixth and stayed in at third base — faced right-hander Chase Silseth and crushed a first-pitch sweeper 426 feet to center field for another two-run homer. The lead was down to two.
"The Muncy homer was the big at-bat," Kotsay said. "Any time you get a game within four, you're one swing away. That momentum shift gave the guys the confidence that we could win this game."
Heim Does It Again as Clutch Pinch-Hitter
Down to their final out in the ninth, trailing by two, the A's needed one more miraculous swing. Tyler Soderstrom kept the inning alive with a one-out double. But with two outs, the situation looked grim.
Acting manager Darren Bush played the matchup card, sending switch-hitting Jonah Heim to the plate as a pinch-hitter for Colby Thomas. Heim had been in this exact spot before — just last week in Las Vegas, he pinch-hit for Lawrence Butler and slugged a game-tying homer against the Brewers.
He did it again.
Heim battled through a 99.2 mph sinker from Angels reliever Sam Bachman for strike one, then got a similar pitch on the fourth offering of the at-bat. This time, he did not miss. The ball sailed over the right-field wall for a game-tying two-run homer, sending the A's dugout and the crowd into a frenzy.
"He's done it before," Muncy said. "He did it in Vegas and did it here. He's built for moments like those."
It was Heim's second career game-tying pinch-hit homer. Both have come in June 2026.
Walk-Off Walk Caps the Comeback
The drama did not end in the ninth. After Elvis Alvarado pitched two scoreless innings to keep the game tied, the A's loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th against Angels reliever Kelvin Caceres.
Nick Kurtz stepped in with nowhere to go but home. Caceres could not find the zone, and Kurtz took ball four to force home the winning run, setting off a celebration at home plate.
Alvarado (3-1) earned the win with two dominant innings of relief. The A's bullpen — which allowed 10 runs through the first five innings — held the Angels to just one run over the final five frames, giving the offense time to work its magic.
What This Means for the A's
The A's have shown time and again this season that no deficit is too large. With 21 comeback wins — fourth-most in MLB and the most in the American League — they have built an identity around resilience.
Friday night was the largest comeback victory of the season. It pulled the A's back to .500 at 38-38 and placed them just a half-game behind Seattle in the AL West. They lead the majors in comeback wins and have shown a consistent ability to fight back from large deficits.
With the series continuing Saturday and Sunday at Sutter Health Park, the A's have a chance to keep climbing the division standings. For a team that started the season slowly, they are now firmly in the playoff conversation.
"No deficit is safe when our offense can do what it does," Heim said. "It's a good feeling. We've got a good group of guys here. We play with a lot of passion and we have a lot of fun out there. Even when it's going bad, we're still trying to have fun and keep it loose so we can rally back."
Tyler Harlan
Tyler Harlan covers sports with an eye for rotations, trends, scheduling spots, and the game context that often gets overlooked.