Oakland A’s catcher Kyle McCann (left) throws to first base to put out the Los Angeles Angels Kevin Pillar in the top of the fifth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Thu Jul 4, 2024 (AP News photo)

Thursday, July 4, 2024

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Oakland, California

Los Angeles Angels 0 (36-50)

Oakland Athletics 5 (33-56)

Win: JP Sears (5-7)

Loss: Roansy Contreras (1-1)

Time: 2:38

Attendance: 11,956

By Stephen Ruderman

OAKLAND–The A’s have finally won three in a row for the first time in two months, as JP Sears pitched five shutout innings, and the A’s completed their sweep of the Los Angeles Angels with a 5-0 win.

Coming into Thursday, the A’s had not won three in a row since they won six-straight at the beginning of May. Today, on this warm and beautiful Fourth of July at the Oakland Coliseum, the A’s had a chance at their first three-game winning streak in two months.

The left-handed finesser JP Sears made the start for Oakland. Sears got off to a decent start in April and May, but he struggled through a brutal June, 0-3 with an ERA of 7.94. Thursday, he was going against the fourth-place Angels in his first start of a new month, which gave him a chance to reset.

Sears started off the afternoon with a 1-2-3 top of the first inning, and Angels’ starter Roansy Contreras pitched a scoreless bottom of the first. Contreras did get some help from Angels’ center-fielder Kevin Pillar, who leapt over the fence in right-center field to take away a home run from JJ Bleday for the first out. Both pitchers then threw 1-2-3 innings in the second.

Sears had retired the first six men he faced, but he ran into trouble in the top of the third. Zach Neto singled to right to start the inning, and Jo Adell walked with one out. Neto advanced to third base when Nolan Schanuel lined out to right for the second out, and Kevin Pillar was hit by a pitch to load the bases. That brought up Taylor Ward, who flew out to center to end the inning.

Brett Harris walked to lead off the bottom of the third for Oakland. Bleday walked with one out, and that brought up Miguel Andujar, who flared a single to left to knock in Harris and get the A’s on the board. Angels’ left-fielder Taylor Ward overran the ball, and that allowed the back runners to reach second and third.

Brent Rooker grounded a base-hit to left field to score Bleday and make it 2-0, and Tyler Soderstrom made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly to center.

Sears had himself a 3-0 lead going to the fourth, where he pitched a scoreless inning. Hunter Strickland, who came in to finish the bottom of the third for the Angels, also pitched a scoreless inning. Sears pitched another scoreless inning in the top of the fifth, as did Hans Course in the bottom of the fifth.

Sears would be done after five shutout innings. He gave up just two hits and a walk, while striking out six. However, his pitch count of 95 got to him

Osvaldo Bido ran into a bit of trouble in the top of the sixth after hitting Miguel Sano with one out, and walking Willie Calhoun with two away. However, Sears got Neto to pop up to first-baseball Tyler Soderstrom, who ran along the line to make a nice sliding catch in foul territory to end the inning.

Zack Gelof drew a walk off left-hander Matt Moore to start the bottom of the sixth. Gelof then stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. Lawrence Butler walked, but Brett Harris flew out to shallow center, and Gelof was unable to score.

Max Schuemann then laid down a safety squeeze, and Harris scored to make it 4-0. Schuemann was originally called safe by First Base Umpire Andy Fletcher, as Angels’ first-baseman Nolan Schanuel came in and left the bag uncovered, and second-baseman Brandon Drury had to take the throw at first. The call ended up getting overturned.

Austin Adams pitched a scoreless top of the seventh for the A’s, as did Jose Marte for the Angels in the bottom of the inning. Lucas Erceg pitched a scoreless inning in the top of the eighth, and Lawrence Butler homered out to left-center in the bottom of the eighth to make it 5-0.

Tyler Ferguson took the ball in the top of the ninth for Oakland, and he closed this one out with a 1-2-3 inning.

JP Sears gets his first win since May 25, and Roansy Contreras takes the loss. The A’s have indeed won three in a row for the first time since the beginning of May, as they improve to 33-56.

Friday night, the A’s will welcome in a much more formidable foe to the Coliseum in the Baltimore Orioles to start a three game series. Left-hander Hogan Harris (1-2, 3.18 ERA) will take the ball for Oakland, and he will be opposed by the journeyman, Albert Suarez (4-2, 2.43 ERA), who has had himself quite a bounce back season pitching in the major leagues for the first time since 2017.

First pitch at the Coliseum will be at 6:40 p.m.