Game Thread #47: A’s at Angels

The Oakland A’s finally faced the AL West division rival Los Angeles Angels on Friday, for the first time this year, and the A’s came away with a decisive 8-4 victory. Now they’ll go again, as the series continues Saturday in Anaheim.

The green-and-gold send Chris Bassitt to the mound. The right-hander had a string of six straight starts in which he allowed exactly two runs apiece, but that was broken last time out against the Astros when he was tagged for four runs by the top-scoring lineup in the majors. His 3.88 ERA and 3.41 FIP so far are a nice follow-up to his breakout 2020 campaign, as is his stingy .298 xwOBA on Statcast.

The Hound faced the Halos three times last summer, totaling 15⅓ innings with six earned runs (3.52 ERA), 15 strikeouts, 3 walks, and a pair of homers — one by Anthony Rendon, who had a potential game-tying dinger robbed last night, and one by Mike Trout, who is currently on the injured list with a strained calf.

A’s lineup (away)

1. LF Mark Canha (R)
2. 3B Matt Chapman (R)
3. CF Ramon Laureano (R)
4. 1B Matt Olson (L)
5. DH Chad Pinder (R)
6. 2B Jed Lowrie (S)
7. RF Stephen Piscotty (R)
8. SS Elvis Andrus (R)
9. C Aramis Garcia (R)

• RHP Chris Bassitt

Pinder gets a half-day at DH, especially after taking a hard fall making a catch at 2B last night.

Angels lineup (home)

1. SS Jose Iglesias (R)
2. DH Shohei Ohtani (L)
3. 3B Anthony Rendon (R)
4. 1B Jared Walsh (L)
5. LF Justin Upton (R)
6. RF Jose Rojas (L)
7. CF Juan Lagares (R)
8. C Kurt Suzuki (R)
9. 2B David Fletcher (R)

• LHP Patrick Sandoval

Let’s Go Oakland!

How To Watch

• Date: Saturday, May 22
• Time: 7:07 p.m. PT
• TV (local): NBC Sports California
• Radio: 960 AM (more listings here)
• Streaming (watch): NBCS website (with cable sub)
• Streaming (listen): A’s Cast