Athletics return Brian Serven to Triple-A

Baseball is a funny game. After the Padres put up three runs in the top of the 10th, the Royals rallied for four in the bottom of the inning on four weakly hit balls that all barely left the infield. Jensen got the biggest of those to walk it off, and he himself had an odd game. He smoked two doubles a bit earlier – including one off Mason Miller – but a knubber through the hole won it. It’s been a very hot month for him overall with five home runs and an .856 OPS over his last 30 games.

Lange was one out away from securing this save until Ty France launched a solo home run to tie the game. This came after Lange imploded and allowed five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Mets in his last outing before the All-Star break. It feels like his grasp on this closer role should be tenuous.

It felt dicey at times, but Lugo grinded his way to a quality start here. While he allowed nine hard-hit balls, most of those were on the ground as he did a good job of keeping the ball low. It was also fun to see the wily vet reach back and pull out four of his eight hardest pitches – and his only one above 95 mph – in a fifth inning where the Padres rallied. He now has a 4.39 ERA with 89 walks and 36 strikeouts through 110 2/3 innings on the season and is lined up to face the Giants at home next time out.

Down by one run with two outs in the ninth inning, France socked a 421 foot home run off Alex Lange to send this game to extra innings. The Padres’ bullpen imploded in the bottom of the 10th, but it was still a great moment for France. That was his 12th home run of the season to go along with a .268/.328/.502 slash line through 71 games.

King pitched to a solid final line here, but it came with more of the unevenness that’s defined his season. He didn’t locate his fastball or sinker particularly well and the Royals made hard-contact against each. He also hung a sweeper that Lane Thomas belted for a 445 foot homer and let too many of his changeups float away from left-handed batters. His stuff is good enough to keep him solid, but command is the thing holding him back from the ace-ceiling he’s shown in the past. He’s scheduled to face the Braves in Atlanta next time out.

As a team, the Tigers couldn’t do anything against Reid Detmers and company throughout the ballgame, They finally got something going against Kirby Yates in the ninth though as Dillon Dingler was hit by a pitch and Riley Greene worked a one-out walk. Down to their final out, Lee smoked a ball into the gap in right-center, plating both runs and putting the Tigers ahead to stay. The rookie infielder finished the night 1-for-4 and is now hitting .255/.288/.392 with four homers and 17 RBI in 161 plate appearances on the season.

Montero came on to relieve Troy Melton with two outs in the sixth inning and the Tigers trailing 1-0. He didn’t allow a baserunner until the ninth, where he started the inning by hitting Jorge Soler before allowing a single to Jose Siri. He battled back though, getting Jo Adell on a pop out to second and Oswald Peraza on a ground out to third before retiring Denzer Guzman on a ground ball to shortstop to end it. Montero punched out five batters in the brilliant outing and didn’t walk a batter. He’s expected to rejoin the rotation next week against the Cubs in Chicago.

Melton scattered four hits and four walks on the evening. The lone tally against him came on a ground out off the bat of Josh Lowe in the opening inning, that could have been an inning-ending double play, but Zach McKinstry was late going over to cover second base. Melton got a whopping 18 swings and misses on 94 pitches on the night — six on his fastball — while posting an elite CSW of 38 percent. He now holds a brilliant 1.80 ERA, 0.87 WHIP and a 50/15 K/BB ratio over 55 innings through his first nine starts on the season. He’ll do battle against the Royals his next time out on Thursday.

Neto led off the game with a single on an 0-2 pitch from Troy Melton. He then scampered home on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Josh Lowe, which wound up being the lone tally for either team until the ninth inning. Neto was also thrown out trying to steal in the ballgame. With his two-hit attack, the 25-year-old shortstop is now hitting .237/.328/.453 with 19 homers, 45 RBI and 12 stolen bases (in 21 attempts) on the season.

Yates came on with a 1-0 lead to protect. The 39-year-old hurler made things interesting by plunking Dillon Dingler to open the ninth inning. He then battled back to get Spencer Torkelson on a fly ball to left field before James Outman swiped second base to put the tying run in scoring position. Yates then walked Riley Greene before getting Kerry Carpenter on a fly ball to left field for the second out. Hao-Yu Lee followed with a two-run double that gave the Tigers their first lead of the day and put Yates in position for a loss.