The Oakland A’s didn’t flinch against the New York Yankees on Monday. Playing in a matinee game, the Athletics battled tooth and nail with the Yankees throughout the game. A 2-run home run in the top of the ninth inning gave the A’s the lead.
Closer Mason Miller made sure to maintain that lead.
Miller arrived in the bottom of the ninth inning to face the top of the Yankees lineup. He struck out Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto, and Aaron Judge—quite impressive!
Miller touched 102 miles per hour on the pitch to end the game and strike Judge out. He also hit a scorching 103 miles per hour on his strikeout of Volpe, who’s been one of the league’s best hitters to start this season. Striking out Juan Soto is never something to thumb your nose at either. That was as impressive a stanza as you’ll see.
Especially since he struck out the side against one of the most imposing top 3s in baseball.
The A’s might not often celebrate this season. They’re one of MLB’s worst teams, but they’ve been a competitive bunch so far this season. Who knows how much that competitive spirit will get them by the time the year’s over. But on Monday, they certainly got to celebrate in a big way thanks to the hard-throwing Miller.
The MLB world had much to say about this lights-out performance.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022