The ball from the final out safely in Kevin Pillar’s glove, teammate Jo Adell reminded the veteran center fielder he might just want to keep this one.
Perhaps it would be a meaningful souvenir from the Angels’ last scheduled visit to Oakland. And Pillar immediately realized it had to go to manager Ron Washington, the longtime Athletics’ third base and infield coach who still feels so fondly about the franchise and city.
Washington’s Angels rallied to beat the A’s 8-5 on Sunday at the Coliseum, where Oakland is playing its final season before a scheduled three-year stay in Sacramento ahead of a planned move to Las Vegas for the 2028 season.
“It was the last opportunity to do something good in this ballpark in my favor and my team pulled it out and got the win,” Washington said. “And when he gave me that ball it was a great surprise and joy. I wrote on it, ‘last out of my last game managing in the Coliseum.’ It was heartfelt.”
The Angels won their 5,000th game as a franchise, too, in the very venue where they clinched the 2004 and ’05 AL West crowns.
Washington used to show up early as an A’s coach and toss short-hop grounders from his knees to help groom some of the game’s great infielders before they were great.
“I feel a huge bond because this is where it all started,” the 72-year-old Washington said.
From Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez and Mark Ellis to Marcus Semien, Washington helped many of them to shine and become who they were on the diamond — and even off it as Washington noted, “Mark McGwire, I turned him into a great leader.”
Chavez gifted Washington one of his six straight Gold Glove awards earned from 2001 to 2006.
“I watched many young kids come through here and grow, I watched many baseball players that the industry thought were through come through here and blossom and get deeper contracts for their careers,” Washington said. “… The tradition here in Oakland, I just saw it kept passing down and kept passing down. I’ve had a great 17 years here.”
So you bet everyone around the Angels realized what it meant to Washington to leave with such a fond memory on Sunday. He also caught up with the A’s grounds crew he was so close with over the years.
“He’s probably not going to show it very much, but that one definitely meant a lot to him,” starting pitcher Carson Fulmer said.
Pillar hit a two-run double in the decisive eight inning as the Angels snapped an eight-game losing streak on Oakland’s home field.
“In the moment you maybe don’t understand the magnitude of the moment, but when I caught the last out Jo was like, ‘That’s a good ball to keep’ and I’m thinking, because I drove in some runs earlier? I was thinking maybe as a memory for myself then I was like, ‘Oh, it’s the last time we’re here.’
“Normally in those situations you give the ball to the closer, he earns the ball last out. As I was going through the line I was like, you know what, maybe I give this ball to Wash. He was a big part of the fabric of this place and Oakland baseball. For him to leave with that game ball and to win his last game coaching here, it will probably mean a lot to him.”
Janie McCauley is a writer with the Associated Press.