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A's stun Astros with overturned call in 9th, walk-off HR in 10th

Jason O. Watson / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Matt Olson's first career walk-off home run couldn't have come at a more crucial time for the Oakland Athletics.

Hosting the Houston Astros for their first game of a three-game set, the A's forced extra innings thanks to some aggressive baserunning by Ramon Laureano in the bottom of the ninth.

After solid execution by the Astros' defense, the play at the dish was initially ruled out by home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez. The perfect initial throw from outfielder Josh Reddick to cut-off man Carlos Correa and then to Martin Maldonado at the plate looked too close to overturn. However, A's manager Bob Melvin opted to request a review, which wound up tying the game at 3-3.

(Video courtesy: MLB.com)

Courtesy of Laureano - and an aggressive send from third base coach Matt Williams - the key AL West rivalry was sent to extra innings, where Olson made up for his eighth-inning strikeout with two on and nobody out.

"We're never out of any game," Laureano said, according to Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. "That's the way we feel. Whether we're losing by one run or 10 runs, whatever, we feel like we've got this game. We feel like we have every inning, every pitch. That's what it takes to win a World Series."

The Athletics, who trailed the division-leading Astros by 11 1/2 games back on June 24, never led in the game prior to Olson's 23rd homer of the season. They now sit one game back of Houston.

Trevor Cahill will take the bump for the home side in Saturday afternoon's game against left-hander Dallas Keuchel.

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