A’s win first game of final homestand at Oakland Coliseum in walk-off fashion

OAKLAND — For a few, fleeting moments, the A’s, their fans, their city were afforded the privilege of collective amnesia.

In the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday night, the A’s, as they’ve been wont to do over the last 57 years, made magic. Jacob Wilson singled to center field. Zack Gelof scored from second. They beat the Rangers, 5-4, unaffected by being swept just two days earlier.

Wilson, bearing a smile of pure joy, pranced as he awaited the conglomerate of kelly green jerseys to mob him on the outfield grass. Those in attendance basked in the euphoria, polluting the Tuesday night sky with cathartic cheers. All that mattered to the players, to the coaches, to the announced crowd of 30,402 was the moment — the type of moment that will soon be relegated to the past.

“It’s a pretty emotional week as is, in general, with everything that’s going on over the next couple of days,” Wilson said. “We’re going to try to make it as special for the fans as we can the fans and the city. Tonight was pretty special.”

Wilson’s walk-off single underscored the reality of the moment. The A’s have just two games left to play at the Oakland Coliseum, and five games left with “Oakland” as their city. This could very well be the final walk-off in the history of the Oakland A’s. This could very well be the final win in the history of the Oakland A’s.

Manager Mark Kotsay, sitting in an abnormally stuffy, abnormally packed interview room, didn’t shy away from saying that these thoughts were running through his mind. He admitted, after all, that he is only human. Kotsay will never remember every single moment of every single day he’s spent at the Coliseum — either as a player or as a manger — but there are some components of this place his mind will not allow him to forget.

“The ‘Let’s Go Oakland’ is ingrained in my brain,” Kotsay said. “That’ll never go away, no matter if we’re playing here or I’m sitting on a porch somewhere retired. I’ll always be forever grateful for the fans, the memories and the passion they bring in night in and night out.”

“It’s really a one-of-a-kind ballpark,” said Mitch Spence, who allowed three runs over 4 2/3 innings. “I don’t think there’s ever going to be anything like it (again).”

The Rangers opened the scoring with Adolis García’s RBI double in the top of the first inning, but the A’s responded with two runs of their own by way of RBI doubles from Shea Langeliers and Tyler Soderstrom to take a 2-1 lead.

Oakland expanded its advantage to 3-1 in the third inning as JJ Bleday’s groundout scored Lawrence Butler, but Texas tied the game at three apiece with a run in the fourth and a run in the fifth.

The A’s took a 4-3 the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning on Zack Gelof’s sacrifice fly, but the Rangers tied the game, again, as former Athletic Jonah Heim snuck a solo homer over the left-center field fence in the eighth inning.

Gelof began the ninth inning with a single to left field, then advanced to second base with his 24th steal of the season. That set the table for Wilson, who shot a single into center field and Gelof barely beat the throw home.

“That would be pretty cool to have that, to know that my first one was the last one here,” Wilson said. “But obviously, we’ll take another one. We’ll take two more. Whatever it takes to get wins.”