MLB: The greatest hits of week 18

1 Matt Olson, 49 percent

Olson’s show-stopping home run Tuesday against Hader was big, but statistically not as big as a mere single he produced two days earlier in another late-game scenario.

More from Call to the Pen

• Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
• Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
• Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
• Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
• 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals

The A’s trailed the Texas Rangers 5-4 entering the bottom of the ninth inning of their Sunday contest in Oakland. Oakland had rallied with three runs in the sixth for a 4-2 lead only to surrender that advantage when the Rangers posted three runs of their own in the eighth inning.

When Jose LeClerc took the mound for Texas to start the ninth, the odds of an Oakland victory were just 21 percent. Chris Herrmann’s leadoff single and Marcus Semien’s base on balls did improve those prospects a bit, but LeClerc retired Matt Chapman on a fly ball for the first out. As Olson came to the plate with runners at first and second, Oakland’s victory prospects still registered just 34 percent.

LeClerc fell behind 2-0, then fed Olson a pitch he grounded up the middle, finding its way through the Ranger infield for a single that sent Herrmann across with the game-tying run. By doing so and sending Semien to third base with one out, that scratch single swung the momentum fully in Oakland’s favor, elevating the home team’s chances to 83 percent.

One intentional walk later, the A’s cashed those chances when Khris Davis worked LeClerc for a base on balls on a 3-2 pitch.