By Jerry Feitelberg

The Los Angeles Angels scored two runs in the top of the ninth to topple the A’s 6-4. With the win, the Angels snapped the A’s ten-game win streak. A’s starter Frankie Montas labored through his four innings of work Tuesday night. He threw 96 pitches and walked five, one intentional. The A’s bullpen did its job as they held the Angels scoreless until the fateful ninth inning. In the ninth, A’s reliever, Joakim Soria, retired the first two hitters. He gave up a single to LaStella and was very careful pitching to Angel’s superstar Mike Trout. Trout walked, and that set the stage for Angels’ DH Shohei Ohtani.  On the first pitch to Ohtani, Soria uncorked a wild pitch to advance the runners.  Soria had two strikes on Ohtani and appeared to have struck him out. Home plate umpire, Jame Hoye, called the pitch a ball. Soria told Hoye that he thought he missed the call. Soria still had to retire Ohtani. That did not happen as Ohtani singled to drive in LaStella and Trout. The A’s failed to score in their half of the inning, and they lost 6-4.

The A’s Marcus Semien put the A’s on the board on the very first pitch in the first inning from the Angels’ starter Cam Bedrosian. Semien put a charge into the ball and sent it over the centerfield wall. Bedrosian calmed down and retired the next three hitters. The A’s lead 1-0. It was the first leadoff home run of the year for the A’s and the third in Semien’s career.

The Angels sent ten men to the plate and plated four of them. Frankie Montas struggled as he gave up three walks, one intentional, and four hits. The big blow was a double by Angels’ second baseman Tommy LaStella. The Angels lead 4-1 midway through the second inning.

The A’s put another run on the fifth inning. Centerfielder Ramon Laureano led off the inning with his sixth jack of the season to cut the deficit to two. Laureano also extended his hitting streak to 11 games. The Angels’ pitcher, Nick Tropeano regained his composure and retired the next three batters. The A’s trail 4-2 after five.

The A’s rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth. Matt Chapman led off the inning with a single. Matt Olson followed with his sixth bomb of the ear to bring the A’s back from a 4-1 deficit. The game is tied 4-4 after six.

With two out and no one on in the ninth, the Angels somehow found a way to put two runs on the board. Tommy LaStella singled to get the two-out rally started. Mike Trout walked to put men on at first and second. Soria’s wild pitch advanced the runners to third, and they both scored on Shohei Ohtani’s single. Soria was ejected by the home plate umpire as he was upset with a call that would have given him a strikeout to end the inning. After viewing the replay, it did appear that the umpire did, in fact, miss the call. The Angels lead 6-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth. The A’s failed to score, and they saw their 10-game winning streak come to an end as the Angels prevail 6-4.

Game Notes and stats- Frankie Montas allowed a season-high four runs in four innings, his shortest start of the season. Lefty Wei-Chung Wang made his A’s debut with two scoreless innings and one hit.

The A’s fall to 29-26 while the Angels improve to 25-29. The line score for LA was six runs, seven hits, and no errors. The A’s line was four runs, seven hits, and no errors. The A’s hit three home runs in the game.

The rubber game will be played Wednesday afternoon at 12:37 pm. Daniel Mengden will pitch for Oakland, and the Angels have not yet determined who will start for them.

The time of game was three hours and thirty-two minutes and 13, 060 fans were on hand to watch on a cold evening at the Coliseum.