Angels 10, A’s 8: Oakland is swept despite scoring eight runs in the fourth inning.
ANAHEIM — Oakland’s bats finally showed up to the series at Angel Stadium, all at once in the same inning, but the Angels played the long con en route to nailing down the three-game sweep.
The A’s peppered the Angels with eight runs in the fourth inning Wednesday only to see their bullpen falter, with Chris Hatcher serving up Cliff Pennington’s first career grand slam in the seventh in the Angels’ 10-8 victory.
“I had him set up. I had the right plan, I just lacked the execution,” Hatcher said of the 2-2 fastball, which followed four breaking balls. “I left it in the middle and he put a good swing on it.”
Mike Trout was the real driving force Wednesday, reaching base five times and scoring four runs after missing the first two games of the series with neck stiffness. The two-time MVP crushed a pitch from Kendall Graveman out to right in the first inning, and when Graveman walked Trout his next time up, Albert Pujols followed with a homer to center. In his third plate appearance, Trout tripled, and Pujols provided another homer, No. 612 in his career, tying him with Jim Thome for seventh all-time.
“It was basically two guys who did all the damage off him,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said of Graveman’s five-inning outing.
In the seventh, Trout singled against Ryan Dull, who then hit Pujols. Daniel Coulombe entered and gave up an RBI single to Kole Calhoun. Hatcher took over after Calhoun’s hit, and after striking out C.J. Cron, Hatcher walked Luis Valbuena to load the bases for ex-A’s infielder Pennington, who’d hit just two homers this season.
Until Wednesday, Hatcher hadn’t allowed an inherited runner to score this season.
“A lot of things leading up to that, though. A hit by pitch, a walk ... you can’t keep putting guys on base like that,” Melvin said. “When we have an 8-3 lead, we have to find a way to close it out.”
The A’s bullpen is 18-22 with a 4.63 ERA this year, the second highest mark in the league. Left-hander Sam Moll will be joining the team in Seattle on Friday when rosters expand.
The A’s entered the game 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position in the series and did little against Parker Bridwell the first three innings. Matt Joyce struck out with two men on to end the first, and Matt Olson hit into a double play in the second inning.
Bridwell, who’d never faced Oakland before, came into the game with a 7-2 mark and 2.89 ERA in 14 starts. But he opened the fourth by walking Jed Lowrie and Khris Davis. Joyce followed with an RBI double, Ryon Healy with an RBI single and Olson belted a curveball over the wall in center. He has homered 11 times in 124 plate appearances.
Matt Chapman walked and Bruce Maxwell went deep to right, his first homer since July 6. Seven batters, seven runs, and that was it for Bridwell. Blake Wood took over and, with one out, Marcus Semien singled and went to second on a wild pitch. When Lowrie’s grounder hopped high off the first-base bag and past Cron, Semien was able to score Oakland’s seasonhigh eighth run of the inning.
“When everyone is clicking on this team, it shows what we could possibly do,” Maxwell said.
The team then went back into its stupor, getting only one more runner past first: Maxwell doubled to lead off the sixth and was stranded there.
The A’ have lost 10 of their past 12 games at Anaheim.
“Our record isn’t great but we’re getting a lot of guys experience, and they’re doing well with it, a lot of good things,” Melvin said. “We just couldn’t finish it out on the pitching end.”