A’s winning streak at home stopped at nine by Angels
OAKLAND >> The Athletics remembered what it was like to lose at home Saturday at the Coliseum, losing 4-3 to the Los Angeles Angels.
And it was their usually stellar infield defense led to the first home loss since July 29. The A’s made three errors and the Angels had a pair of unearned runs against starter and loser Chris Bassitt (2-1).
The A’s fell to 19-9, with the Angels improving to 9-19.
Two plays that weren’t made by Matt Chapman, the Platinum Glove award winner as the best third baseman in the majors two years running, helped get the Angels going.
On the first one, Chapman fielded a Mike Trout ground ball with David Fletcher on third and short-hopped catcher Austin Allen, with the run scoring. An inning later, Chapman booted a grounder and Trout eventually cashed in with a two-run double in a three-run inning.
“We’ve been on a long stretch here. Games like that happen,” Chapman said. “I know we’ll bounce back. There’s a few plays personally I would like to make and I feel like I should make. You’ve got to flush it. We still had an opportunity in that game and we battled back and it wasn’t enough.”
Matt Andriese, who came on in place of starter Griffin Canning in the fifth inning, was the winning pitcher and improved to 1-1 on the season. Ty Buttrey worked the eighth and ninth innings for the Angels to pick up his ninth save.
Bassitt, given the way the game started, couldn’t have been expected to be on the mound in the sixth inning, but there he was despite throwing 52 pitches in the first two innings.
“I realized it was going to be a pretty quick day if I didn’t get some quick outs,” Bassitt said.
After getting Jo Adell on a sharp grounder and Jason Castro on a fly to the fence in center, Melvin came in with the hook in favor of Lou Trivino, the first of three relievers.
Other defensive miscues on ground balls came from second baseman Tony Kemp and shortstop Marcus Semien, although neither led directly to a run.
“There’s gold gloves all around so if they don’t make the plays, it looks weird,” Bassitt said. “I just told myself to keep getting ground balls and trust the defense behind me and that’s what I did.”
Bassitt gave up two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. He’s pitched into the sixth in every start except his first and has only finished the sixth inning once, a seven-inning stint in his second start of the season against Houston.
With Bassitt keeping the Angels in check, the Athletics closed it to 4-2 on Matt Olson’s run-scoring double in the fourth inning and a leadoff home run by Matt Chapman off Canning to open the fifth.
It was Chapman’s ninth home run of the season and eighth in the month of August.
By the time the game was two innings old, the A’s trailed 4-1 and looked shaky doing it.
Fletcher scored on Chapman’s short-hop throw to the plate in the first.
“Looking back back Trout hit that ball hard so I probably could have set my feet and got rid of it quick and still made a more accurate throw,” Chapman said.
In the second, Chapman’s error came on a potential double-play ball. It set the stage for Trout’s two-run double for a 4-0 Angels lead.
The Athletics scored against Canning in the second inning when Tony Kemp doubled to left center, scoring Mark Canha, who opened the inning with a walk.
Despite being staked a 4-0 lead, Canning couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning before being replaced by Andriese.
Notes
• A’s players were pleasantly surprised at a pregame video which had family members introducing the starting lineups.
“Everybody was a little surprised,” Chapman said. “I was wondering who was going to do mine. A lot of people had their kids and their wives. Then my parents came out, and it was cool. They didn’t tell me that was coming.”
• Even without closer Liam Hendriks, set-up man Joaquim Soria and left-hander Jake Diekman, all of whom have had heavy workloads of late, the A’s trio of T.J. McFarland, Trivino and Yusmeiro Petit was unscored on in 3 1/3 innings.
• A’s coach Mike Aldrete was back with the team after missing two games due to wildfires near his home in the Salinas area.
“They had a good day yesterday as far as where the wind was blowing,” Melvin said. “There’s a bit of containment on that fire now. He’s got friends that are closer to it and it’s tough on him right now. It’s tough on all of us. Just trying to get out there and focus on playing a game and not on what’s going on here in the Bay Area can be difficult as well . . . I’ve never seen it this bad before.”
“He’s OK. Just a little bit of a scare,” Melvin said. “It was his groin, it was his hip, it was kind of the whole side that got struck in the ground. But fine today. Really didn’t even need any work. Kind of a stinger.”
• Chad Pinder, who twisted awkwardly to try and stop a Trout single that had deflected off the glove of Matt Olson Friday night, was not in the starting lineup. Melvin, however didn’t sound overly concerned.