Game #61: Ramon Blows The Lid Off Canning

After five losses that seemed entirely winnable, the A’s turned things around in Anaheim. Frankie Montas was back to his usual self, Ramon Laureano kept his hot bat swinging, and despite a little drama with Liam Hendriks, Treinen was his usual self closing out the 9th. While it was not an overwhelming win the A’s didn't give in at any point, Laureano’s two run dinger was the difference maker tonight in a 4-2 win.

**Revisit Game Thread #1 | Game Thread #2 ***

Montas

Frankie started out looking more like his last start, as he walked Trout and Ohtani singled through the infield in the first. Lucroy grounding into a double play kept the inning scoreless though. By the second Montas was back in action getting a quick fly out and a pair of Ks off of Goodwin and Fletcher.

For the most part Frankie kept the Angels off of the bags through the next few innings. dealing only with a La Stella single in the 3rd, and a Goodwin double in the 5th.

Mike Trout came close to putting the Angels on the board in the 6th but he ended up with a loud 110mph foul ball, just outside the pole in left field. Trout did make Montas work in that at-bat though, after fouling off 7 pitches in a row with a 3-2 count, Frankie ended up plunking him with a splitter that ran too far inside. Ohtani followed that AB up with a first pitch deep left centre dinger to put the Angels on the board and give Montas his first earned runs. Stephen Piscotty saved Montas from any more trouble by making a tumbling catch to end the 6th and keep Calhoun from reaching.

Montas was relived after pitching 6 complete innings, 2ER off of the Ohtani homer, with 4 hits, a walk and a HBP. Frankie’s fastball came close to 99mph a couple times tonight. 2 of 3 strikeouts thrown by Montas were off his splitter. Montas seemed back to his usual self today, with the homer being the only anomaly. With his 70.0 innings pitched after tonight, Montas now leads the team, a single out ahead of Mike Fiers in one less start.

A’s Batters

After a dismal first inning with Chapman, Olson and Davis all striking out, the same three batters picked it up in the third. Chapman hit a liner single to the outfield, Olson took Canning for an easy walk, and Davis dropped an RBI double past Trout. Stephen Piscotty joined in on the fun with a sac fly to score Olson. These were the first runs the A’s scored without the help of a home run since the last time the A’s and Angels played.

Ramon Laureano was hit by a pitch in the 2nd inning, he then stole second base on his first opportunity. Ramon moved to third base on a Profar single but ended up stranded in scoring position. In the 4th inning he laced a double past Goodwin, but similarly was not able to advance to 3rd before the inning ended. While his first two PAs didn’t amount to runs, Laureano did extend his hitting streak to 16 games.

Laureano kept his bat hot, as in the 6th he belted a curveball in the middle of the zone out 402 to left field. This came right after a Grossman single, tacking on an extra 2 runs for the Athletics.

In the 8th inning Robbie Grossman dropped a 2-out single behind the infield, then Ramon kept it going with a 4-pitch walk, but the 2-out rally ended with Profar grounding out. Ramon ended up on base in every plate appearance he had tonight, but the only time he was able to score was when he did it himself.

Angels

While the A’s got their runs against him, Griffin Canning was getting Athletics batters to swing and miss at all pitches in his repertoire. Canning’s slider was extra handy as all three strikeouts in the 1st inning were earned on swinging strikes off of his slider. Canning exited the game with 8 strikeouts in 6.0 innings pitched.

While Ohtani’s homer was the Angels highlight for the night, they largely played well. Montas kept them off the bases for most of the game, but The Angels made solid contact a few times, and saw his slider especially well, making meaningful contact on ¹⁄₃ of the sliders Montas threw.

Bullpen

Yusmeiro Petit picked up the 7th inning, Petit faced little trouble with a duo of ground outs, and a strikeout. An easy inning on 10 pitches.

Liam Hendriks was brought in for the 8th, starting things off by bouncing a ball off of Luis Rengifo’s foot to give the Angels a free leadoff baserunner. Liam got both La Stella and Trout to fly out to Piscotty in right, but pitched around Ohtani until he walked, then tossed a ball in the dirt to advance both runners. After coming close to another 0-2 count getting out of hand, Lucroy flew out to right to end the inning and keep the A’s in the lead.

Blake Treinen trotted out to try and keep things intact for the Athletics. Heres how the 9th went down:

• Calhoun strike out on a 98mph fastball.
• Fletcher strike out on a 98mph sinker.
• Goodwin fly out to right field.

Blake got his 12th save of the season as his pitches were moving and his sinker was as deceptive as ever.

Frankie Fastball did his best to keep things in check through a solid start. Montas now sits at 7 wins, leading the Oakland squad. While it seemed like we were in for another late inning bullpen loss, the Athletics held on to take the game.

Tomorrow the A’s have another night game in Anaheim, as Daniel Mengden and Felix Pena are the current scheduled starters. It was mentioned that either or both teams could throw out an opener to start tomorrow.

The A’s sit at 30-30 after snapping their losing streak, and are 10.5 games behind the Astros.