A’s Drop Series Opener To Angels 7-4

But a memorable highlight!

The Athletics made a late charge but dropped their series opener to the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night in LA, dropping the first of three to their division rivals 7-4 in a lackluster effort from the last-place A’s.

The club is seeming to like this opener strategy. After not using an opener all season long manager Mark Kotsay has been going with it recently for some games, and did so again tonight to begin their series in LA against the rival Angels.

Right-hander Grant Holman got the call to open this game up. He had a perfect 1-2-3 bottom of the first, but he had a little bit of help from his center fielder Denzel Clarke when he made the most ridiculous catch you will see in your life:

There’s no doubt that ball is going over the fence without Clarke’s heroics. He’s only been with the team for a couple weeks now but he’s already made a huge impact on the squad with his stellar play in center field. And the best part? He’s just getting started, and A’s fans will get to see this already Gold-Glove caliber center fielder play for a long time in the Green & Gold.

As expected, after Holman’s opening inning of work came bulk pitcher Jeffrey Springs, Making his second bulk appearance of the year the lefty initially came out looking good, having his own 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts. The rails came off for the veteran in his second inning of work though. Four singles and an error from Max Muncy at third helped the Halos score three times in the second inning to open up a lead, and a solo home run off the bat of Angels center fielder Jo Adell in the next frame expanded the LA lead to 4-0 through four innings. Springs would pitch six full innings tonight, ending his evening after 85 pitches.

• Jeffrey Springs: 6 IP, 5 H, 4 R (3 ER), 0 BB, 8 K, 85 pitches

He had his strikeout stuff working tonight but that third inning really doomed him tonight. He was able to escape the loss and he maintains his even 5-5 record this season. He’s now sporting a 4.64 ERA on the year and looks likely to make his next outing against the Kansas City Royals this coming weekend.

The A’s bats meanwhile were more or less helpless against Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi. Over the first seven innings of tonight’s contest the A’s managed just a single hit (Muncy) and walk (Luis Urias) against the veteran left-hander. He was on an absolute roll tonight, keeping A’s hitters off balance all night and racking up five strikeouts along the way. He’d eventually depart in the top of the eighth inning after a strikeout, only coming out of this game because of his 104 pitch count.

But once he was out of the game, the A’s bats immediately woke up. Urias collected the team’s second hit of the day on the second pitch from Kikuchi’s relief, and then JJ Bleday hit a pinch-hit, two-run home run to halve the Angel’s lead and make this a game:

That was Bleday’s 7th long ball of the season but just his second hit since rejoining the team from Triple-A. It’s a nice moment but with Nick Kurtz’s return to the team and Tyler Soderstrom’s likely move back to left field playing time is going to get scarce for Bleday. This blast could entice the coaches to get him another start during this series or the next one.

The Athletics managed to get the tying run to the plate that very same inning but couldn’t cash in. Then Tyler Ferguson entered the game after Springs in the eighth and let this one get out of hand, allowing three runs in his lone inning of work to make any comeback attempt an uphill climb to say the least.

Well the A’s seemed ready to climb. A Soderstrom single brought Muncy up to the plate in the top of the ninth and he crushed his fourth career home run to cut it to a three-run deficit:

That would be all the A’s could do though. Angels closer Kenley Jansen came in and shut the door on the team, earning his 462nd career save and 15th of the year.

Welp, that wasn’t the best performance from the guys. There weren’t many positives from the Green & Gold tonight. Denzel Clarke looks like the real deal in center field. Jeffrey Springs can still strike out batters. But the offense managed just one hit through the first seven innings before a late charge made the final score look better than the game really went. And the bullpen continues to be a problem for an A’s team that is now 26-42 and looking like they are going nowhere fast. The playoffs continue to drift away from A’s fans’ thoughts and now the focus needs to be on not finishing last in the division, and the upcoming trade deadline. Tonight’s loss against the team right above us in the division is not a good start to that first goal. Where is the energy?

The series continues tomorrow evening, same time same place. The A’s will eschew the opener strategy for game two, instead giving right-hander Mitch Spence his second start of the season. He was terrific in his return to the starting rotation last time out, firing off five innings of one-run ball against the Twins while allowing just three hits. The 27-year-old will hope to replicate that line and earn another start or extend his leash as a starting option for the team. He’ll be opposed by Los Angeles’ young right-hander Jose Soriano, who has a solid 4.11 ERA through 13 starts for the Halos this season.