Jed Lowrie and Seth Brown homered, Paul Blackburn and four relievers combined to allow just six hits and the Oakland A’s beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-2 on Friday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Lowrie, Brown and Luis Barrera (two doubles) each had two hits for Oakland, but it was the bullpen that made the difference in the game. Sam Moll (1-0), Zach Jackson, A.J. Puk and Dany Jimenez held the Angels hitless over the final 4 1/3 innings.
In the seventh, Jackson retired Taylor Ward, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani in order, getting both Trout and Ohtani on called third strikes.
Puk got both Anthony Rendon and Jared Walsh on called third strikes to begin the eighth inning, as the Athletics’ pitching staff combined for 13 strikeouts overall. Jimenez pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his eighth save.
Moll earned his first career major league win in his 35th appearance.
The loss was the Angels’ season-high fourth in a row. The A’s won for just the second time in six games.
Angels starter Chase Silseth (1-1) retired the first two batters of the game before Lowrie homered.
The Angels responded with a run in the bottom of the inning, also putting together a rally with two outs and nobody on. Ohtani walked, stole second and scored on a single by Rendon.
Los Angeles got back-to-back doubles by Ward and Trout in the third inning to take a 2-1 lead.
Oakland regained the lead in the fifth and knocked Silseth out of the game. After a one-out walk to Lowrie, Brown fell behind in the count 0-2, worked the count to 2-2 and then homered to give the A’s a 3-2 lead.
Silseth, in his second major league start, gave up three runs on six hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings, striking out six. Blackburn got a no-decision, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings. He fanned five.
Oakland added to its lead in the sixth against Angels reliever Kyle Barraclough after Barrera led off with a double, went to third on a flyout by Elvis Andrus and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Smith to make it 4-2.
Ward had to leave the game in the top of the ninth after running face-first into the right field wall while making a catch on a ball hit by Tony Kemp.
–Field Level Media
