Oakland A’s pitcher Joey Estes leaves the pitchers mound in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at the Big A in Anaheim on Wed Jun 26, 2024 (AP News photo)
By Barbara Mason
It was not the Oakland A’s (29-54) finest hour as they got swept by the Los Angeles Angels (33-46) losing game three 5-2. Much like the game on Tuesday, the Angels had a blow-out inning in game three, the fourth inning, where they scored five runs. The A’s were faced with playing from behind and could not generate the offense needed to even threaten to make a dent.
The only bright spots in this game for the A’s was the great inning from Mason Miller in the eighth inning. Armando Alvarez had another nice game with one run and one hit in his second big league game.
As in Tuesday’s game, the A’s got the first lead of the game 1-0. Max Schuemann doubled driving Armando Alvarez home.
The Oakland lead was short-lived when the Angels blew up the sixth inning to the tune of five runs taking a 5-1 lead. Tuesday it was the fourth inning and in today’s game, the sixth inning turned this game around for the Angels.
To start the inning Joe Estes allowed a single, a couple of walks and then Mickey Moniak was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Luis Rengifo scored to tie up this game 1-1. Zach Neto came to the plate and doubled three runners home; Willie Calhoun, Mickey Moniak and Luis Guillorme all scored giving the Angels a 4-1 lead.
That was it for Oakland pitcher Joey Estes who was relieved by Austin Adams. The Angels finished up the inning with another run when Matt Thaiss doubled Zach Neto home extending their lead to 5-1.
Joey Estes went 5 2/3 innings finishing the game with three hits, two runs, two walks and eight strikeouts. The Angels pitcher Roansy Contreras only pitched three innings allowing four hits, one run, two walks and two strikeouts.
Neither team would score again until the ninth inning when the A’s scored one run, too little, too late and the Angels had another sweep under their belt winning this in a three game . Mason Miller pitched the eighth inning back in great form recording two strikeouts, a pop out and an infield single dismissing the Angels in the inning.
Another bright spot for the A’s was again Armando Alvarez who had one run and one hit in his second major league appearance. That final run was the result of a Max Schuemann sacrifice and Armando Alvarez scored for that final run for the A’s.
Game notes: The A’s swept the Angels 5-2 on Wednesday extending Oakland’s loss streak to five games. It has been a miserable season for Oakland in 2024 and it just seems like it has snowballed lately. They just can’t get anything consistently going offensively or on the mound. In Wednesday’s game Estes pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three hits and two runs. For the Angels starter Contreras pitched three innings giving up one hit and one earned run.
After another disappointing series, the A’s will travel to Arizona for a three-game series with the Diamondbacks at Chase Field. They will be off Thursday. J.P. Sears will be on the mound for Oakland to start this series with a 4-7 win/loss record, ERA 4.07. At the time of this post the starting pitcher for Arizona is undecided. First pitch for this game is scheduled for 6:40 PM.
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