yahoosports.com photo: The Oakland A’s catcher Josh Phegley (26) rounds third base after hitting his sixth home run of the season gets the congratulations from third base coach Matt Williams (4) in the opening game against the Los Angeles Angels
By Jerry Feitelberg
OAKLAND — The Oakland A’s continued their winning ways as they beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-5 before 20,409 fans at the Oakland Coliseum on Memorial Day. The A’s Chris Bassitt won his third game of the year. Bassitt pitched five innings and allowed six hits and five runs.
The A’s offense came to Bassitt’s rescue when they came back and propelled the team to a 6-3 lead after five innings of play. A’s manager Bob Melvin relieved Bassitt in the sixth when the Angels rallied to plate two runs. The A’s bullpen shut the Angels’ offense down the rest of the way while the A’s offense was able to put two more runs on the board to secure the win for Oakland.
The Angels scored the first run of the game in the top of the second inning. Future Hall of Fame inductee, Albert Pujols, led off with a single to right. Bassitt uncorked a wild pitch, and Pujols advanced to second. The Angels’ right-fielder, Kole Calhoun doubled to right to drive in Pujols with the run. The Angels led 1-0 midway through the second inning.
The A’s evened the score in the bottom of the third. With one out, centerfielder Ramon Laureano doubled down the left field line. After Josh Phegley struck out, Angels pitcher Trevor Cahill walked shortstop Marcus Semien to put men on at first and second with two out. A’s left fielder, Robbie Grossman, doubled to right field to drive in Laureano with the tying run. The score was knotted up 1-1 after three complete.
The game didn’t stay tied for long. Pujols led off the top of the fourth with his ninth long ball of the year. For Pujols, it was also his 642nd of his illustrious career, and he needs 19 more to pass Willie Mays, who has 660. The Angels plated another run in the inning to take a 3-1 advantage.
The next hitter, Kole Calhoun, followed with his second double of the game. Calhoun advanced to third on Angels third baseman David Fletcher’s single. The Halos’ left fielder, Brian Goodwin hit a sharp ground ball back to Chris Bassitt. Calhoun, running on the play, was caught in a rundown and tagged out at home by A’s first baseman Matt Olson. Fletcher went to third, and Goodwin ended up on second with a fielders’ choice.
Bassitt hit Dustin Garneau to load the bases. LA shortstop Luis Renigfo drove in Fletcher with a sacrifice fly to left. The Angels now led 3-1. In the A’s half of the fourth, Jurickson Profar homered with a man on board to knot the score at 3-3.
The A’s sent Cahil to the showers in the bottom of the fifth when they put three more runs on the board to take a 6-3 advantage. Josh Phegley continued his hot hitting as he led the frame with his seventh dinger of the year. The other two runs were driven in by Stephen Piscotty.
Grossman had his second double of the day and moved to third on Matt Chapman’s single. Chapman advanced to second on a wild pitch. Both scored on Piscotty’s single. Cahill’s line for the day was 4 1/3 innings of work. He allowed six runs on six hits.
The Angels finished Bassitt’s day in the sixth inning. The Halos started the rally with a walk to Kole Calhoun. Fletcher followed with a double into the left-field corner that allowed Calhoun to score from first base. A’s manager Bob Melvin had seen enough, and he replaced Bassitt with Yusmeiro Petit.
Brian Goodwin greeted Petit with a single to center to drive in Fletcher with the Angels’ fifth run. Melvin brought in lefty Ryan Buchter to pitch to the left-handed hitter, Tommy LaStella. Buchter did the job as he struck out LaStella to end the inning. The A’s still lead 6-5 midway through the sixth.
With two out in the bottom of the seventh, Matt Chapman blasted his 14th homer into the seats in left field to pad the A’s lead to 7-5. The Angels asked for a review, and it took just 25 seconds to confirm that Chapman’s blast was a home run.
The A’s plated another run to increase the lead to three in the bottom of the eighth. Stephen Piscotty led off with a double and scored on Mark Canha’s single. The A’s owned an 8-5 advantage heading into the ninth. The A’s closer, Blake Treinen, ended the game by striking out Mike Trout to end the game. The A’s win their tenth in a row.
Game Notes and Stats: Chris Bassitt went five innings and allowed a season-high five earned runs. He has pitched at least five innings in six of his seven starts this season. He also hit two batters for the first time since August 21st, 2015.
Robbie Grossman hit two doubles off Trevor Cahill and is hitting .583 against the big righty in his career. He is also hitting .333 ( 8-for-24) with runners in scoring position this season.
A’s catcher Josh Phegley has seven home runs and 32 RBI in 42 games this year. He hit five home runs and had 25 RBI in 96 games over the previous two seasons. Stephen Piscotty had a single and double and drove in two runs. Piscotty has reached safely in his last 23 games, which is the longest active streak in the majors and ties the longest of his career (May 31 to June 26, 2018).
Mat Chapman was 2-for-four with a home run. He has homered in three consecutive games for the second time in his career. He is batting .344 (11-for-32) with four home runs and eight RBI over his last eight games. Ramon Laureano singled to extend his hitting streak to ten games.
Bassitt improved to 3-1 for the A’s, and Cahill dropped to 2-5. The A’s are now 29-25 for the year, and the Angels fall to24-29.
The line score for the game for Oakland was eight runs, ten hits, and no errors. The Angels’ line was five runs, nine hits, and no errors.
Up Next: The A’s will send Frankie Montas (6-2, 2.40 ERA) to the hill Tuesday night. The Angels have not announced their starting pitcher. Game time will be at 7:07 PM on Tuesday at the Oakland Coliseum.
