Oakland A’s Game #17: A’s blow big lead, lose 10-9 slugfest to Angels

The Oakland A’s scored nine runs on Monday, but it turned out they needed two more.

The A’s built a five-run lead but let the Los Angeles Angels come back for a 10-9 victory in the opener of their three-game series in Anaheim. The loss snapped Oakland’s nine-game winning streak, although they still have the best record in the American League.

** Game Thread #1 | Game Thread #2 | Game Thread #3 | Game Thread #4 ***

The evening was a slugfest from the very beginning. The teams traded three-spots within the first two innings, including a homer and a run-scoring wild pitch for each. Matt Chapman then broke it open almost single-handedly, driving in several more runs to help put the A’s on top 9-4. However, the Halos chipped away at Oakland’s vaunted bullpen for six unanswered runs and a comeback win.

Chapman was the star of the game for the A’s, drilling two homers and a triple to rack up 6 RBI. Had Oakland held on to win, he would have been the headline, but instead the pen blew a lead for only the second time this summer through 17 games.

As for the Halos, several of their stars came through on offense, including two homers from Mike Trout and one each from Anthony Rendon and Shohei Ohtani. The dinger from Ohtani tied the game in the 6th off reliever Lou Trivino, and Trout’s second shot was the game-winner in the 8th off Yusmeiro Petit.

Neither starting pitcher found much success earlier in the night. Sean Manaea and Julio Teheran were each yanked in the 3rd inning, having allowed a total of nine runs combined between them.

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