Sacramento is important today because of Jan. 24, 1848, when the discovery of gold near the present-day capital — future host of Sutter Health Park and the definitely-not-Sacramento Athletics — sparked a westward migration that ultimately led to California’s statehood. The motto of the Gold Rush was “Eureka!,” or, translated, “I have found it!”
That might’ve been what Johan Rojas thought at the end of the eighth inning on Friday.
Rojas’ spinning, leaping, tumbling, crashing catch to end the penultimate frame preserved a one-run lead for the Phillies in their Sutter Health Park inauguration. At once it appeared a rejection of the Athletics’ last effort to even it up before the Phillies put the game out of reach.