The Angels had a six-run cushion and still walked out of West Sacramento with another loss.
Los Angeles jumped ahead 6-0 and looked like it had the game under control, but the Athletics stormed back with nine straight runs and turned a promising night into a 9-7 defeat. In a park built to inflate offense, the Angels still found a way to make the big lead vanish.
Denzer Guzman did most of the early damage for Los Angeles. He knocked in a run with a groundout in the first inning, then launched a three-run homer in the third. Vaughn Grissom added an RBI single in the second and another in the sixth, and by then the Angels were sitting on what should have been a comfortable lead.
Yusei Kikuchi did his part. He worked through the setting and gave up two runs on seven hits, with a walk and two strikeouts. For a night like this, that should have been enough.
It wasn’t close to enough once the bullpen took over.
Luke Murphy and Joes Fermin helped the A’s push across five runs in the sixth and seventh, with two of those charged to Kikuchi and the other three landing on Fermin. Then Sam Bachman’s return to the Angels bullpen went sideways in the seventh and eighth, as he was tagged for three runs. Blake Weiman was charged with the final run.
Los Angeles managed only one run after building the big lead, and that came on Christian Moore’s infield single in the ninth during a token rally.
The Athletics kept piling on behind a long list of contributors. Shea Langeliers and Lawrence Butler each finished with three hits, while pinch-hitter Carlos Cortes delivered an RBI triple and later a two-run homer. Zack Gelof also went deep during the A’s surge.
Guzman finished with four RBIs for the Angels. Grissom and Mike Trout each had three hits, while Jose Siri, Wade Meckler and Moore collected two apiece.
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Angels Just Reopened A Bullpen Fear Fans Know Too Well
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The Athletics piled up nine runs over the final three innings and finished the comeback with back-to-back go-ahead two-run homers from Carlos Cortes and Zack Gelof in the eighth. Even a run in the ninth could not stop the bleed for Los Angeles, leaving the Angels with a familiar worry: a game that looked secure until the late innings turned it into another frustrating bullpen story. [Read more 🡒]