Game #34: A’s blanked 2-0 by Angels

The bats went silent again.

The Oakland A’s were blanked by the Angels on Friday, by a 2-0 margin at the Coliseum.

*** Click here to revisit tonight’s Game Thread! ***

The A’s had a nice week, bouncing back from a nine-game losing streak to win four out of five against the struggling Tigers, and along the way their lineup began to stir from its early slump. But tonight the offense disappeared once more, collecting just two hits and never even reaching third base.

Halos starter Chase Silseth made his MLB debut and breezed through six innings, and their bullpen had no trouble finishing it off. Oakland only hit the ball hard five times all night, and four of them were on the ground. At one point 15 straight A’s batters were retired.

Both of the team’s hits were recorded by Elvis Andrus, but so were their two biggest miscues. Their best chance to score came in the 3rd inning, when Andrus led off with a single and Tony Kemp followed with a walk. With one out, the next batter hit a deep flyout to left, and Andrus tagged up to advance but was thrown out at third base for a double play. Inning over, rally squashed, with the lineup’s highest batting average (Neuse) in the on-deck circle.

A few minutes later, in the top of the 4th, the Angels had a runner on second and two out. They hit a grounder up the middle, and Andrus made a diving attempt but the ball slipped under and past him and into the outfield. Getting the out would have been tough, but at least knocking it down and keeping it in front of him would have stopped the runner from scoring on the play.

That was the first run of the game, and it was all the Halos needed, though they scored once more in the 5th on a solo homer. Otherwise, A’s starter Daulton Jefferies was sharp, logging six quality innings against the highest-scoring club in the majors.

• Jefferies: 6 ip, 2 runs, 4 Ks, 0 BB, 1 HR, 5 hits, 88 pitches

He retired Trout and Ohtani three times apiece, including one strikeout each.

The bullpen did a good job too, retiring nine of 10 batters they faced. In many of Oakland’s recent losses, the competitive pitching has served as a bright side, and tonight continued that trend.

Unfortunately the primary story of the day was the lineup being shut out, again, this time by a pitcher (Silseth) who was in college this time last year and who had never played above Double-A. And while Andrus is an easy target for the mistakes he made, he’s also the only reason we’re not talking about the A’s being no-hit by an Angels pitcher making his MLB debut. Life is complicated.

At least this one should be easy to shake off, because they play a doubleheader tomorrow. In the meantime, cleanse your palate with a glimpse of Oakland’s amazing outfield defense.