Getting back on track!
That’s two in a row! One more and it’s a winning streak.
The Oakland A’s blanked the Los Angeles Angels 4-0 on Thursday, opening a four-game series in Anaheim on the right foot. Oakland have been slumping lately, but for the second straight game they showed up on both sides of the ball, and they even got a couple of the fortunate hops that haven’t been bouncing in their favor lately.
*** Click here to revisit tonight’s Game Thread! ***
The headline entering the evening was the A’s debut of outfielder Starling Marte, who was acquired in a trade yesterday, and indeed Marte did contribute to the victory. But the bottom line is the Angels didn’t score, and that’s mostly because Frankie Montas didn’t let them. Oakland’s rotation has been the primary strength of the team, and they led the way again tonight.
In seven innings, the Halos only hit the ball hard twice off Montas. One of those was a loud out to end a brief scoring threat in the 3rd, but in the end they never actually reached third base a single time.
- Montas: 7 ip, 0 runs, 10 Ks, 3 BB, 3 hits, 109 pitches, 80.0 mph EV
Granted, this was a particularly weak Angels lineup, missing Anthony Rendon and Jared Walsh in addition to the long absence of Mike Trout. But that’s still a dominant performance against a group of major leaguers, and they still had to deal with Shohei Ohtani — and rather than let him beat them, they walked him three of his four times up.
More details coming! Keep hitting refresh.
Frankie’s splitter is pic.twitter.com/kymcYKxqiw
— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) July 30, 2021