Late Comeback Falls Short as Angels Lose 5-4 Against A’s
- Updated: June 24, 2016
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim came up short by a score of 5-4 at home in the first game of a four game series against division rival Oakland Athletics.
It was starting pitcher Tim Lincecum’s first start at Angel Stadium in an Angels uniform, but it did not go as well as his debut last week in Oakland. Against the same opponents, Lincecum succumbed to a beating on the mound.
The A’s went on top first, putting Lincecum on the back foot early in the second inning. Through two errors, one of which by Yunel Escobar who lost sight of a fly ball, the A’s took a quick 4-0 lead.
The Angels began to push back, but the home team fell short of getting any runs after Kole Calhoun grounded out to short to leave two on and end the third inning. The fourth proved to be a different story.
The Angels looked to make a comeback in the bottom of the fourth inning when Mike Trout got to first on an infield single to get the ball rolling. After Albert Pujols failed to create anything at the plate, C.J. Cron blasted one in the opposite direction for a double and advance Trout to third.
Johnny Giavotella hit a blooper into shallow left-center field to get Trout home and advance Cron to third. Daniel Nava was hit by a pitch to load the bases for the Angels, and a sacrifice fly from Jett Bandy advanced everyone and cut the A’s lead in half. Andrelton Simmons flew out to center to end the inning and leave two runners stranded.
Relief pitcher Javy Guerra let up a solo home run to Khris Davis over the center field wall to increase the A’s lead to 5-2. Trout climbed up the wall on what was Davis’ 17th home run of the year, but was unable to get anywhere near it. Fortunately for the Angels, it was the only damage done in the fifth inning.
Neither team looked dangerous after Davis’ solo shot until the Angels made a last-ditch attempt in the bottom of the ninth.
Giavotella led off with a double down the left field line and with one out, Bandy nailed a two-run home run over the left field wall and into bullpens behind the left field wall to cut the A’s lead to 5-4. The Angels were down by one when Simmons flew out to make it two outs with Jefry Marte pinch-hitting, and a horrific injury occurred.
With a 1-1 count, Marte swung his bat, lost the handle and the bat flew onto the top of the head of the home plate umpire, leaving a nasty gash on top of his head. The game went into an injury delay as the umpire was helped off the diamond to receive treatment.
Marte stepped back out into the batter’s box when the game resumed, and popped out to first to end the game. The Angels take on the A’s in game two of the series tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. PT at the Big A.
Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Angels and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, All the time!
Related Posts
About Shawn Medow
