At the top of the 10th inning of the A’s Opening Day game against the Angels on Friday night, before Oakland won 7-3 in walk-off grand slam fashion, something rare happened. Something so rare, it had never been done before.
Angels’ two-way star Shohei Ohtani was at second base after MLB’s new rule of extra-inning play was implemented for the first time. He would be the first player in the history of the game to do so, but the A’s were more than prepared.
Matt Olson snagged a hard-hit grounder off the bat of Angels pinch-hitter Jared Walsh and threw the ball across the diamond to Matt Chapman, who combined with Marcus Semien to trap Ohtani in a pickle before he eventually was tagged out.