by Jerry Feitelberg

Oakland- The A’s and the Los Angeles Angels played a game that seemed to go on forever as it took four hours and thirty-eight minutes to finish. The Angels’ manager, Mike Scioscia, set an American League record by using twelve pitchers in the game. The A’s used eight. The 14,571 fans in the stadium saw the two teams use twenty pitchers, score twenty runs, three home runs by the Angels and the A’s had two by first baseman Matt Olson. There were over 400 pitches thrown in the game.

The A’s Chris Smith (0-4) was looking for his first win of the year.He was opposed by Parker Bridwell (7-2). Neither pitcher lasted long as the hitters on both teams were taking advantage of the warm and humid condition at the park on Labor Day.

The A’s jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. The key hit was a double with the bases loaded by Khris Davis. For Davis, it was his 94th, 95th, and 96th runs batted in this season. Bruce Maxwell singled to drive in Davis with the fourth run of the inning.

The Angels tied the game at four in the top of the second. Kole Calhoun and Andreton Simmons singled to put two men on with one out. Smith served up a gopher ball to Angels’ third baseman Luis Valbuena. Valbuena’s homer was an opposite field homer to left field. Catcher Martin Maldonado followed with a solo homer to tie the game.

In the third, the A’s regained the lead when rookie first baseman, Matt Olson, hit his thirteenth dinger of the year to put the A’s back in the lead 5-4. Olson has been red-hot as it was his fifth homer in his last seven games.

In the top of the fourth, the Angels sent Chris Smith to the showers. Smith walked C.J.Cron to start the inning. Maldonado followed with his second blast of the day to up the Angel lead to 6-5. Brandon Phillips followed with a single. A’s manager Bob Melvin removed Smith from the game and brought in the big righty Simon Castro. Castro walked the first hitter he faced, and that was Mike Trout. The Angels then executed a double steal sending Phillips to third and Trout to second. Castro uncorked a wild pitch and Phillps scored. The veteran and future Hall of Fame player, Albert Pujols, singled to drive in Trout with the Angels eighth run of the game. Smith’s line was 3 and 1/3rd innings of work, and he allowed seven runs, seven hits, and three home runs. Smith has given up sixteen home runs in just 46 innings of work. The A’s scored a run in their half of the inning. Maxwell and Matt Chapman singled to start the inning. Scioscia went to his bullpen immediately and brought in the veteran Jesse Chavez. Chavez pitched very well last week when the A’s were in LA. He went four scoreless innings in that game. Maxwell scored on a ground out by Marcus Semien, and the A’s now trail the Angels 8-6 after just four. Bridwell’s line was three plus innings pitched and he gave up seven hits, six runs, and one home run.

The Angels plated a run in the top of the fifth, and the A’s got it back in the bottom of the sixth. The Angels lead 9-7 after six complete. There was no more scoring until the ninth inning. Scioscia brought in Blake Parker to close out the game for the Angels. With one out, Jed Lowrie singled. It was Lowrie’s third hit of the day. Parker struck out Khris Davis for the second out.It was the 21st straight game for Davis with at least one strike out. All Parker had to do was retire Matt Olson for the final out of the game. Olson had other ideas as he hit his second round tripper of the day and the A’s tied the game at nine to send the game into extra innings.

The A’s closer, Blake Treinen, pitched a scoreless tenth inning. The A’s did not score in the bottom of the tenth. Treinen’s luck ran out in the eleventh. He gave up walks to Justin Upton and Eric Young, Jr. Angel’s right fielder Kole Calhoun lined a ball into the corner in right field for a triple to drive in Upton and Young. The Angels lead 11-9 with the A’s coming up to hit.

Scioscia used three pitchers in the eleventh inning. Troy Scribner, Jose Alvarez, and Keynan Middleton were able to keep the A’s off the board. The game ended when Davis hit into a double play.

Game notes  – Bob Melvin had this to say about Monday’s marathon:”We scored four in the first and lost the lead pretty quickly after that. We just couldn’t hold them down in early innings,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We continued to fight and, when you’re going through a little bit of a losing streak like that, it shows some grit. Would’ve been nice to finish it off.” Yes, it would have been nice. The A’s have been getting hitting during the losing streak but the pitching, starting, and bullpen, has been awful. Billy Beane and David Forst must address this issue if the A’s are going to improve next year. The A’s best pitcher has just nine wins. Graveman, Manaea, Cotton, Gossett, and Smith are not the solution. Paul Blackburn has shown promise, but he is done for the season. The bullpen needs to be rebuilt. The A’s lost three games during the streak that they possibly could have won. They lost 10-8 to the Angels, &-6 to Seattle, and 11-9 on Monday to LA again. The A’s scored enough runs to win, but the pitching was not there.

With the Twins loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, the Angels are just 1/2 game behind the Twins for the second Wild Card spot in the American League.

Game two of the three-game series will be at 7:05 pm Tuesday night at the Oakland Coliseum. Kendall Graveman with a record of 4-4 will pitch for Oakland and the Angels’ Garrett Richard (0-0), who has missed all of the season due to injury, will be making his first start.