head-to-head
Detroit vs. the A’s in West Sacramento, Calif., an interdivisional game between a first-place club and a last-place one. Not a matchup that generated much excitement on the major league schedule for Monday night. Ah, but there was a matchup within the matchup that Mississippi baseball aficionados would find compelling. It wasn’t the pivotal head-to-head confrontation in the A’s stunning 7-3 win, but it was entertaining. Batting leadoff for Detroit was Colt Keith, the ex-Biloxi High star, the state’s Gatorade player of the year in 2019. Starting on the mound for the A’s was J.T. Ginn, former Brandon High star, the state’s Gatorade player of the year in 2018. Both were drafted in 2020, Keith out of high school, Ginn out of Mississippi State. Both are second-year big leaguers, but they hadn’t faced off before. The lefty-hitting Keith came in batting .261 with 11 homers and 39 RBIs, having a fine year for the Tigers (78-54), who have been in command of the American League Central most of the season. Right-hander Ginn was 2-5 with a 4.95 ERA for an A’s team that was 60-72, in the AL West cellar, 10.5 games back of the third wild card spot. Keith was a .278 hitter against right-handers, with all 11 of his homers coming against righties. Lefties were batting .339 with eight bombs against Ginn, who had yielded 10 runs in 11 2/3 innings in his previous three outings. But this matchup, on this night, belonged to Ginn. He struck out Keith on three pitches to start the game, the first of his eight K’s. In the third inning, Keith crushed a line drive foul down the right-field line on the first pitch, then popped up to left two pitches later. In the fifth — in what was still a scoreless game — the count went to 3-1 before Ginn induced a grounder to short that ended the inning. Ginn departed in the sixth; he would be charged with seven hits, a walk and three runs in 5 1/3, in line for a loss before the game suddenly turned. The crucial clash came in the seventh, when former Mississippi Braves star Shea Langeliers hit a two-out grand slam off Tigers ace Tarik Skubal that put the A’s up 6-3. The 450-foot bomb at Sutter Health Park was the 29th of the season for “Bang-eliers” and the first slam ever allowed by Skubal, the 2024 AL Cy Young winner. Skubal took the L, falling to 11-4. Ginn may have gotten a no-decision on this night, but he won the battle with Keith and his team ultimately won the war.