Koch surrendered a two-out single to Royals pinch hitter Luis Alicea; the single allowed pinch runner Kit Pellow to score the tying run. So the Athletics entered the bottom of the ninth inning with the score tied at 11–11. Pinch hitter Scott Hatteberg then hit a one-out solo home run off of Kansas City reliever Jason Grimsley. The home run clinched the AL-record 20th consecutive victory for the Athletics. Oakland's streak came to an end with a 6–0 loss to the Minnesota Twins on September 6. The A's continued to play well down the stretch, as evidenced by their final record of 103–59. The club's late-season surge allowed it to hold off the Anaheim Angels, who finished four games behind them at 99–63. Oakland's regular season exploits, however, once again failed to translate into postseason success. The team again lost the American League Division Series (this time to the Twins) in five games. Tejada and starting pitcher Barry Zito went on to win the American League MVP and Cy Young Award, respectively. Tejada left the Athletics following the 2003 season, while Zito stayed until the end of the 2006 campaign. Game log |- style="text-align:center; style="background-color:#bbffbb;" | 1 || April 1 || Rangers || 8–3 || Mulder (1–0) || Park (0–1) || — || 43,908 || 1–0 || W1 |- style="text-align:center; style="background-color:#bbffbb;" | 2 || April 2 || Rangers || 3–2 || Koch (1–0) || Miceli (0–1) || — || 10,267 || 2–0 || W2 |- style="text-align:center; style="background-color:#bbffbb;" | 3 || April 3 || Rangers || 9–6 || Mecir (1–0) || Rodriguez (0–1) || Koch (1) || 23,259 || 3–0 || W3 |- style="text-align:center; style="background-color:#ffbbbb;" | 4 || April 4 || Rangers || 5–7 || Davis (1–0) || Lidle (0–1) || — || 15,081 || 3–1 || L1 |- style="text-align:center; style="background-color:#ffbbbb;" | 5 || April 5 || @ Mariners || 1–7 || Baldwin (1–0) || Hiljus (0–1) || — || 40,303 || 3–2 || L2 |- style="text-align:center; style="background-color:#bbffbb;" | 6 || April 6 || @ Mariners || 8–3 || Mulder (2–0) || García (0–2) || — || 45,093 || 4–2 || W1 |- style="text-align:center; style="background-color:#bbffbb;" | 7 || April 7 || @ Mariners || 6–5 || Hudson (1–0) || Moyer (0–1) || Koch (2) || 39,870 || 5–2 || W2 |- style="text-align:center; style="background-color:#bbffbb;" | 8 || April 9 || @ Rangers || 5–4 (11) || Koch (2–0) || Seánez (0–1) ||