Game #131: A's Fall to Angels 3-1

Andrew Heaney began the first inning red-hot while surrounded by a sea of more than 33,000 red fans, definitely a heck of a lot more fans than show up at the Coliseum. And those Angels fans got their money’s worth. Immediately Heaney made his presence known. Marcus Semien led off the game with a strikeout. Pinder followed with a strikeout on a slider. Lowrie, yes it’s true, struck out swinging. All three sat down on a changeup, curve ball, or 94mph fastball. Tommy John surgery successful? Sure looking that way.

The first inning continued in the Angel’s favor as Cameron Maybin led off with his 18^th double on the season. Revere flew out to right for the first out. With Pujols at bat, Maybin advanced to third on a passed ball, which brought the infield in. But Gossett stared down the beast and struck out Albert Pujols for out number two. Calhoun, with two outs, manufactured a run on a pitch left hanging; a base hit to right field to score Maybin. Two outs and the infield is back and Andrelton Simmons singles on a bunted ball down third base that stayed inside the foul line and kissed third base as Gossett and Chapman stared and hoped. A new athletics record during this inning: 73 wild pitches on the season and number 73 advanced the runners. Luckily, Luis Valbuena lined out to first-baseman Ryon Healy to end the inning. Angels 1, A’s 0.

In the bottom of the second, the Angels had a chance to manufacture more runs. C.J. Cron singled on a sharp grounder to Khris Davis. Maldonado followed with a single on a liner to Davis. Kaleb Cowart then did his job and bunted the runners to second and third; luckily Chapman handled it well and quickly threw Cowart out at first. Chapman wasn’t through with his strong defense when, with one out, Chapman fielded and threw home to catcher Dustin Garneau on a Cameron Maybin grounder to get Cron out at home. Gossett then followed with a strikeout of Ben Revere on a 92mph fastball. Breathing easier, the A’s headed to the dugout unaffected.

Enter catcher Dustin Garneau in the top of the third. Garneau took the ball 383 feet into left center field to tie the score. Unfortunately Semien, Pinder and Lowrie were unable to follow suit. Nonetheless, the game begins again with a tie score in the middle of the 3^rd: A’s 1, Angels 1.

Fast-forward:

Fourth inning and two outs: Khris Davis ceases his sprint to a floating pop fly on two outs. Maldonado gets a base hit and with two outs is the go-ahead run. Enter Kaleb Cowart who doubles deep to left and bats in Maldonado.

While Cameron Maybin follows with strikeout (#5 on the night for Gossett), the damage was done. Athletics 1, Angels 2.

Gossett, just scratching the surface of 90 pitches in the 6th, is able to go three up, three down to take his team into the dugout.

In the 7th, the Athletics found themselves with two outs and a runner on third with Bruce Maxwell subbing in for Garneau. Middleton, subbing in for Heaney, wins the battle and the scored remains 2-1 Angels.

Gossett returned to the mound in the bottom of the 7th having a comprehensive total of 93 pitches. He gave up a single to Maldonado on a ball floating into the middle of the zone. This immediately had Ryan Dull up and warming in the bullpen. Nonetheless, Gossett kept dishing it, but it wasn't enough as he allowed a double to Ben Revere that led to an awkward handling of the ball, specifically an error on Matt Joyce, as the Angels go ahead 3-1 by scoring Maldonado. Ryan Dull came in to close out the inning by getting Albert Pujols to ground out and end the inning on a 6-3 putout.

The Athletics made a bit of noise in the 8th against pitching substitution Yusmeiro Petit. Marcus Semien led off with a double as Chad Pinder followed with a line-out to Revere in left. Jed Lowrie then walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Unfortunately, Khris Davis hit into a double play to end the inning, a 6-4-3 end to the inning.

Other game notes:

• Mark Canha struck out in his first two at-bats.

• In a rookie move in the 5th, Chad Pinder strikes out—getting himself in this position by taking, or swinging at, the wrong pitches to leave two runners stranded.

• In the 6th:

And that was #8, #9 and #10.

• Heaney exits after 6 notching 1 run on 2 hits with 3 walks and 10 strikeouts.