A’s drop rubber game against Angels, lose 6-0

The Oakland A’s dropped their third game of the year this afternoon, falling to the Los Angeles Angels and getting shutout by a final of 6-0.

Things were going alright in the early frames. The offense put on a couple base runners in each of the first couple innings, making Angels starter Tyler Anderson throw more pitches but ultimately couldn’t get the big hit. Meanwhile, A’s starting pitcher Ken Waldichuk got through the first three innings unscored upon, allowing four baserunners during that time. The highlight of his day was when he fell behind the count 3-0 against superstar Shohei Ohtani but came back to strike him out to end the third:

A solid beginning to his 2023 season.

Unfortunately, the wheels came off in the fourth inning for Waldy. A single and walk put two Angels runners on with only one out. Waldichuk almost escaped unscored upon after getting a strikeout for the second out but Los Angeles’ rookie catcher Logan O’Hoppe connected on a belt-high fastball for a 3-run home run, giving the Angels the first lead of the day.

Things continued to go south from there. A leadoff single in the fifth was followed by a Mike Trout 2-run shot, and Ohtani made it back-to-back home runs for the Angels and suddenly it was a 6-0 deficit for the A’s. Both home runs were absolutely demolished.

Waldichuk ultimately pitched into the sixth inning but after a two-out single Mark Kotsay decided to pull him. His day was done after 96 pitches.

• Ken Waldichuk: 5 ⅔ IP, 9 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 3 HR, 96 pitches

Well, on the bright side, Waldichuk was able to give the A’s some length today by pitching into the sixth inning. On the negative side, well, just look at that line.

Right reliever Zach Jackson came on in relief of Waldichuk needing just one out. He allowed a pair of baserunners but kept the Angels off the board and got the A’s out of the sixth. Adrian Martinez followed him and pitched the final three innings for the A’s, allowing just one hit in his 2023 debut.

On the other side of the ball, the A’s just could not figure out Tyler Anderson. Oakland managed six baserunners against him but four of those came in the first two innings. Los Angeles finally pulled him after six shutout innings but that didn’t really improve things for the bats. The A’s managed a two-out walk and single in the ninth to threaten breaking up the shutout but couldn’t break through, ending the game with a Tony Kemp strikeout.

So overall not a great day from the Green & Gold, but they’ll get another chance to get back in the win column tomorrow when the A’s welcome the Cleveland Guardians to the Coliseum for the first of three games. It’ll be Zach Plesac facing off against James Kaprielian tomorrow night, with both pitchers making their season debuts.