by Jerry Feitelberg

It was a rough, rough night for the Oakland Athletics as they were pulverized by the Los Angeles Angels by a score of 14-1. The A’s did not get good pitching and they committed three errors on defense while all the offense could muster was just one run and four hits. It was a duel of two left-handed pitchers. Drew Pomeranz for Oakland and Hector Santiago for the Angels.

Pomeranz struggled and was lifted in the sixth inning. Santiago went six complete and picked up the win. The A’s bullpen failed to put out the fire as they could not contain them and they gave up nine runs in the defeat.

The Angels scored four runs in the bottom of the second. With one out and Erick Aybar on first, C.J. Cron hit a slow roller to third. Brett Lawrie fielded the ball cleanly and threw to second trying to start a 5-4-3 double play. Eric Sogard made the force out and pivoted quickly and made a good throw to first to complete the double-play. The umpire ruled Cron out to end the inning. Angel manager, Mike Scioscia challenged the ruling and after a review the call was overturned. Angel catcher, Chris Iannetta walked to put two men on with two out. Angel second baseman, Johnny Giavotella, then connected for  his first home run of the year to give the Angels a 3-0 lead. Pomeranz was still not out of the woods. Leadoff hitter, Kole Calhoun singled and Pomerantz walked Mike Trout. The next batter, Albert Pujols lined a shot that A’s shortstop Marcus Semien let bounce off his glove for an error allowing Calhoun to score with the fourth run.

The A’s got on the board in the third when designated hitter, Billy Butler, hit a solo home run to deep left centerfield to make it a 4-1 game.

The Angels blew the game open in the bottom of the sixth when they scored six times. Drew Pomeranz started the inning but was lifted after a C.J.Cron doubled. Bob Melvin brought in R.J.Alvarez to pitch.

Johnny Giavotella singled to drive in Cron with the Angels fifth run of the game. The next batter, Kole Calhoun, was credited with a single when the ball hit the second base umpire and was ruled dead.

Alvarez uncorked a wild pitch allowing the runners to advance to second and third. The A’s issued an intentional walk to Mike Trout to load the bases. Alvarez uncorked another wild pitch allowing Giavotella to score and moving the other two runners to second and third.David Freese singled to drive in two more runs and Freese advanced to second when Craig Gentry fumbled the ball for an error.

Erick Aybar followed with a single to make it 9-1. Collin Cowgill, the only Angel up to this point in the game that did not reach base safely, singled. Aybar scored all the way from first when the throw from Semien went by third for an error and Cowgill ended up on third when the throw home was wild.

Angels lead after six 10-1.

The Angels scored four more in the 7th. Iannetta and Giavotella reached safely to start the inning. Bob Melvin went out to the mound and ended Alvarez’ night. Fernando Abad was brought in to pitch to the left-handed hitter, Kole Calhoun. Calhoun promptly deposited Abad’s offering over the fence in right centerfield to make the score 13-1. The Angels added another when Mike Trout scored on a sacrifice fly. 14-1 in favor of the Angels after seven full.

The A’s brought in position player, first baseman Ike Davis to pitch in the bottom of the eighth. It was the first position player to pitch for the A’s since the 2000 season. All Davis did was set the Angels down in order 1-2-3 on nine pitches. Great job, Ike.

Game three of the four-game set will be played in Anaheim at 7:05 pm Wednesday night and the game should be a dandy as Sonny Gray will go for Oakland while Jared Weaver will go for LA.