Count Canha among believers
He only heard about the three straight walk-off wins, but outfielder Mark Canha was back with the A’s on Tuesday and then he was a big part of their 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday. He believes. Has for a long time.
“There’s been a little bit of magic to this team,” said Canha, who had Oakland’s first two hits Wednesday and scored on Chad Pinder’s tworun homer. “We have great chemistry and great talent. I think you’re going to see more stuff like that more often. “This team could be good.” The A’s took the series from the Angels, two games to one, and have won four of five games to improve to 16-18. They survived starting pitcher Andrew Triggs walking the first three batters he faced, until someone probably reminded him that Mike Trout (hamstring) and Albert Pujols (screaming old man’s bones) weren’t in the lineup.
Triggs (5-2) didn’t walk an-
other batter, and wound up going six three-hit innings, striking out four batters. (The Angels’ lineup had a combined 23 homers and six batters hitting below .240.)
“Wow, that’s Houdini,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “It ended up being a great outing for him.”
Liam Hendriks, Ryan Madson and Santiago Casilla slammed the door the last three innings.
Pinder drove an 0-1 fastball from Jesse Chavez off the top of the right-field wall in the fifth inning for his second homer and the only runs the A’s would need. The rookie second baseman will also get some opportunities in the outfield.
“He can hit,” Melvin said. “It’s about finding a place for him.”
The only other hits that Chavez allowed in 52⁄3 innings were singles by Canha, who was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday.
Canha was sent down to the minors — for the first time in his career — April 15 after starting the season 2-for-19. Canha had come back from losing almost all of the 2016 season to hip surgery and he felt bad.
For Oakland general manager David Forst.
“It’s not easy being a GM,” Canha said. “He told me he wanted me to get at-bats and I trusted that. I am so grateful to this organization for everything. It was the right move for my career.”
After a slow start in Nashville, Canha hit five homers with 16 RBIs and 10 walks in 19 games.
“What we wanted to accomplish was, after basically a year off last year, let him go down there and get a bunch of games,” Melvin said. “He almost had an RBI a game while he was there, so he feels good, and now it’s just about getting him in the lineup semi-consistently here to keep him productive like he was in the past.”
Canha was in the lineup every day for the Sounds, went to a wider stance and just exhaled.
“It felt like a weight off my shoulders,” said Canha, who hit 16 homers with 70 RBIs in 2015. “I had been flailing at the ball and it was good to get some confidence back. After the first home run down there, I felt like I was attacking the ball again.”
Catcher Bruce Maxwell, meanwhile, left the game in the fourth inning after he took another foul ball to the mask.
“He’s had four or five of those in a week now,” said Melvin, who stressed that he took Maxwell out of the game only as a precautionary move. “You get nervous.”