OAKLAND, CALIF. (AP) - A few hours after he ended the longest game in the majors this season, Brandon Moss and his 3-year-old son sat together at home and stayed awake to watch television replays.
Not of Moss’ two-run homer in the 19th inning that gave the Oakland Athletics a 10-8 victory over the Los Angeles Angels in a game that took 6 hours, 32 minutes and concluded at 1:41 a.m. PDT.
Nope, young Jayden Moss preferred to watch his father throwing a cream pie in his own face _ and made Brandon replay it 18 times.
“He’s into all the baseball stuff but he didn’t want to watch the home run,” Moss said Tuesday. “He just wanted to watch the pie. That was his favorite.”
Only a handful of the 11,688 fans remained when Moss hit his second home run of the night, ending the longest game by time in Oakland _ and the longest in Angels history.
A day later, both teams were still feeling the effects.
A’s manager Bob Melvin had to scrap his normal postgame routine just to get home in time to catch a few hours of sleep before returning to the ballpark.
Before watching television with his son, Moss first had to explain to his wife and sister why he was so late. The two women, along with Moss’ two children, had arrived in the players’ parking lot at 9:45 p.m. Monday, ostensibly to pick up Moss. They spent the next 4 1/2 hours waiting as the innings piled up.
“She almost left in the 11th but then she thought, `As soon as I drive away, they’ll win,’” Moss said.
At least they got home before 3 a.m.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia had to meet with his staff until the wee hours of the morning trying to formulate a plan after losing leadoff hitter Peter Bourjos to a hamstring injury.
“You know how many moves we had to run through at 3 o’clock in the morning just trying to get an idea of what the needs of the team are going to be right now and what we need moving forward?” Scioscia said.
Moss had to pelt himself with the pie because Josh Reddick, who usually gets the honor after a game-ending hit by the A’s, was initially too tired.
Reddick did come back with a second pie, and Josh Donaldson emptied a water jug on Moss’ head.
Angels catcher Chris Iannetta probably deserved something, too. He played the entire game and became the first AL player since 2006 to catch more than 18 innings in a game.
Iannetta was not in Los Angeles’ starting lineup Tuesday night.
“There’s no doubt Chris feels it today,” Scioscia said. “There’s no doubt everybody’s feeling some things a bit more. When you have something that you’re dealing with, standing out there for 18 innings, like cold weather, is going to bring it out.”
Angels closer Ernesto Frieri, who gave up a tying hit to Yoenis Cespedes with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, said the A’s didn’t deserve to win.
Los Angeles had a 7-2 lead in the eighth but let it slip away on a night when Albert Pujols homered twice and drove in four runs. Mark Trumbo also homered and knocked in three.
The Angels lost more than just the game Monday night.
Bourjos was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring. The center fielder was hitting .313 before getting hurt legging out a sacrifice attempt in the 11th inning.
The injury to Bourjos was somewhat offset by the return of shortstop Erick Aybar, who was activated from the disabled list before Tuesday’s game. The Angels also selected the contract of outfielder Scott Cousins from Triple-A Salt Lake.
Oakland also had to scramble for help after using eight pitchers.
Dan Straily, who threw the first 4 2-3 innings of the marathon game, was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento and right-hander Evan Scribner was called up.
“I don’t think either team’s particularly fresh,” Melvin said. “We’ll be a little bit limited, as will they.”
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AP freelance writer Rick Eymer contributed to this report.
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