Angels hold off A’s in 9-7 win in ‘bullpen’ game

OAKLAND — For the sixth time this season, the Oakland A’s arranged a socalled bullpen game. They asked starter Liam Hendriks to go only one inning — seven pitches — before giving way to a scheduled parade of relievers.

It didn’t work Tuesday night. And much of failure in a 9-7 loss to the Los Angeles Angels at the Coliseum can be traced back to an arm that wasn’t scheduled to appear at all.

A fan in the stands reached for a foul ball in the sixth inning, just as right fielder Stephen Piscotty was closing in on a potential bases-loaded catch. When neither the fan nor Piscotty caught the ball, the Angels made the most of the reprieve.

Andrelton Simmons finished the controversial at-bat with a two-run single to cut the A’s lead to 4-3. And one batter later, Kaleb Cowart walloped a grand slam into the right-field seats off Ryan Buchter to give Los Angeles a 7-4 lead. They never trailed again.

With the defeat, the A’s lost ground to every team that matters in the American League playoff race. They now trail the Houston Astros by five games in the A.L. West and the New York Yankees by 2.5 games for the top wild-card spot.

Oakland is also 5.5 games ahead of Tampa Bay for the second wild card spot.

Piscotty was clearly ticked after the fan’s not-so-helping hand, and he wasn’t alone. A crowd of 15,031 booed when it saw the replay, then booed again after Cowart’s first home run of the season. A brief chant of “Kick her out!” flittered through the stands and she was indeed ejected.

Manager Bob Melvin challenged the play with the umpiring crew, arguing that fan obstruction should have resulted in an out, but to no avail.

Until then, the A’s unorthodox pitching plan was on schedule. Hendricks has now opened each of the A’s so-called bullpen games, all of them since Sept. 1. And this marked the fifth consecutive time he was lifted after delivering a lone shutout inning.

It used to seem weird. But not anymore, at least not in the A’s clubhouse.

“I would say we’re used to it,” Melvin said before the game. “Doing something differently can be uncomfortable, (but) I don’t think anybody thinks too much about it now . ... The newness has worn off.”

The A’s are now 2-4 in their bullpen games. But they remain so confident in the stockpile of their relievers that Melvin did not rule out a bullpen game in the postseason.

“I don’t know. We have to get there first,” the manager said.

Although the odds are against it, especially with the way they looked Tuesday, the A’s could also get hot enough to secure home-field advantage for the wildcard game or division series. Because for

all the flack the beleaguered Coliseum takes, the A’s usually play like gangbusters here.

That is, when they’re cheering instead of interfering.

“They’ve always inspired us here,” Melvin said. “In some places the atmosphere is a little more docile. Here, that isn’t the case. When the fans are out in full force, they’re part of the reason we do well.”

The A’s entered play 46-29 at home and are 11-0-2 over their last 13 home series. That’s the longest by an A’s team since the Philadelphia squad went 12-0-1 over their first 13 home series in 1949.

But Mike Trout seems to like Oakland just fine, as well. His fourth-inning homer off Daniel Mengden was his 35th of the season. It was also his 28th career home run at the Coliseum (in his 450th atbat at the park).