Oakland A’s starter Chris Bassitt throws against the Los Angeles Angels line up in the first inning on his way to a win at Angels Stadium on Sat May 22, 2021 (AP News photo)

A’s Top Angels In Game Two

By Barbara Mason

Friday night the Oakland A’s (28-19) beat the Los Angeles Angels (19-27) 8-4 at Anaheim 8-4. After two back to back losses to the Houston Astros, the A’s showed some definite signs of getting back on track with their first win against the Angels. Game Two on Saturday would be the deciding factor.

Were they really back to the play that kept them in first place in their division for weeks? Yes they were as A’s starter Chris Bassitt threw seven plus innings and held the Angels to only two runs in the 6-2 victory at Angels Stadium in Anaheim.

The Angels despite their recent struggles are still a very good ball club. A second win for the A’s would be a very promising sign that this team is back to their winning ways.

Chris Bassitt was on the mound for Oakland and Patrick Sandoval opened for the Angels. The A’s would rebound.

The A’s first inning was a good one. Mark Canha hit a triple and he scored when Matt Chapman hit a sacrifice fly. Oakland had an early 1-0 lead. Canha had a double in the third inning and would score to extend Oakland’s lead to 2-0.

Then the green and gold homeruns came to life. Matt Olson had one in the sixth inning and Aramis Garcia had a second homerun in the seventh inning for a 4-0 A’s lead. Oakland’s Seth Brown would add a third homer with Tony Kemp on base and the A’s now led 6-0. So far in this series the A’s had seven home runs and seven doubles.

It sure looked like Oakland was cruising to their second win in this series. After seven innings Chris Bassitt was still on the mound. He already had six strikeouts and continued to throw hard in the eighth inning with an 85 pitch count. He was having a great outing.

The Angels got on the board in the eighth inning when Lagares and Iglesias scored trailing Oakland 6-2. After Ohtani hit a triple Chris Bassitt left the game. There were two outs when Petit came into the game and it would be up to him to get that third out. That third out was realized in quick order and this game would go into the ninth inning,

Diekman would come in to save this game. It would be a three up, three down and into the clubhouse for Oakland to celebrate their second win in the series. Tomorrow the A’s will go for the sweep. With the Astros and the Mariners both losing the A’s were taking advantage of the inter division schedule.

Sunday the A’s will start Sean Manea (3-2 ERA 4.41) and starting for the Angels Dylan Bundy (0-5 ERA 6.02) will be on the mound for Game Three. First pitch is at 1:07 PM.