OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 5 (UPI) -- A home run by pinch-hitter Scott Hatteberg with one out in the ninth inning Wednesday night gave the Oakland Athletics a dramatic 12-11 triumph over the Kansas City Royals.
It was Oakland's third consecutive walk-off win and 20th straight victory, baseball's longest in 67 years.
Oakland erupted for six runs in the first inning, extended its lead to 11-0 after three frames, and seemingly was well on its way to breaking the American League record for consecutive wins.
But Kansas City did the unthinkable, scoring five times each in the fourth and eighth innings before knotting the contest with two outs in the ninth against closer Billy Koch.
The last team that failed to hold an 11-run lead was the Chicago Cubs, who ultimately dropped an 18-16 decision to Philadelphia on April 17, 1976.
After Miguel Tejada launched a three-run walk-off homer Sunday and slapped the game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth Monday, Oakland was in search of a new hero. With one out in the ninth and rookie Eric Byrnes due up, Manager Art Howe called upon Hatteberg, who lined a 1-0 offering from Jason Grimsley (3-6) into the seats in right-center field.
"Grimsley throws so hard and he throws that sinker," Hatteberg said. "All I thought was 'I want to make contact, try and get a double and get in scoring position.' I get a ball and then this pitch is thrown and I hit it. At first, I didn't think it was going to go out, but it did. This is like an outer-body experience for me right now."
It was the fifth walk-off homer of the season for Oakland and third by a pinch hitter.
"This wasn't one of our normal type of wins," Howe said. "It took everything we could muster to get it done, but we did. I'm glad we had an off day yesterday. If they were back-to-back-to-back, they would have had to cart me out on something. I know it was a record-breaker, but I don't want to watch this one on film."
The win extended the Athletics' winning streak to 20 games, the third-longest in major league history since 1900. Oakland is one win away from tying the 1935 Cubs and six away from the 1916 New York Giants, who captured 26 in a row with a tie along the way.
"This win streak is like a fairy tale," Hatteberg said. "A huge crowd cheering you every step of the way. The win streak just keeps bonding us together. We're getting so tight in here."
"Yes, it is a fairy tale," Koch added. "There aren't many words that can describe this. It's just so unbelievable."
The game was played in front of a crowd of 55,528, the largest ever to attend a regular season game at Network Associates Coliseum.
"The atmosphere here with the crowd made it like a playoff game," said Kansas City interim manager Tony Pena. "And we played it like it was one. By the end of the game, everyone on the team was standing on the top step yelling and screaming."
Koch (9-2) gained his third win in as many games despite allowing a run and two hits in one inning for his sixth blown save.
Kansas City chipped away at its 11-run deficit, scoring five times in the fourth and eight, respectively to make it interesting.
"It was scary," Hatteberg said. "They kept coming back. We were watching them and they weren't giving up. We were very lucky tonight and we learned a valuable lesson out of this, I
hope."
The victory was the 10th in a row at home for the Athletics, tying the second-longest streak in Oakland history, and improved their record to 78-0 when leading after eight innings.
Oakland finished the season series with an 8-1 record against the Royals. The A's have won 22 of the 30 contests between the teams in the last three years.
