Ace Bumgarner loses third straight as Giants drop second game in weekend series against Dodgers.
Ace earns first win since May 14 with six strong innings; Oakland ends skid
OAKLAND >> There are no “must” wins 70 games into a baseball season, but the A’s had to be feeling better about themselves Saturday after a 6-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels Saturday.
Sean Manaea, the closest thing they have to a staff ace, got his first win since May 14 with six strong innings, with only a three-run home run by Chris Young in the fifth as a blemish before a crowd of 19,185 at the Coliseum.
With the help of a fourrun sixth, the A’s rallied from a 3-1 deficit to snap a four-game losing streak, having come in to the game with six consecutive division losses and 12 of the previous 13 against versus the American League West.
A clutch two-out single from Stephen Piscotty in the sixth was the game’s big hit, with the A’s also getting a single, home run and triple from Chad Pinder (his sixth) and a solo home run from Marcus Semien (also his sixth).
Having stopped the bleeding, the A’s (35-36) are in position to win the series today against the Angels (38-33) before embarking on a 10-game road trip against San Diego, the Chicago White Sox and Detroit.
“One bad pitch, and we’re down by two runs, and it’s feeling like one of those games where we’re not taking advantage of what we can do offensively, going through a little rut, and then we got contributions from everybody,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said.
The game swung in the A’s favor for good in the sixth, when Semien opened the inning with a home run against starter Jon Lamb to make it 3-2. It was just the third hit off Lamb, making his Angels debut after being recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake City.
The Angels immediately brought in Noe Ramirez, who proceeded to supply the base runners the A’s needed.
Ramirez hit Pinder with a pitch, and after retiring Jed Lowrie on a fly, walked
Khris Davis and then hit Matt Olson in the foot. He struck out pinch-hitter Dustin Fowler for the second out, and was on the verge of escaping the inning.
But Ramirez (2-3) walked Jonathan Lucroy to force in a run, and Piscotty followed with a clean single to center to drive in two more, putting the A’s up 5-3.
“You want to come through but you’ve got to shrink the zone there and not expand, and know that the pressure’s on him in that situation,” Piscotty said. “Just curb the excitement and the adrenaline and really shrink the zone and see something in the middle of the plate.”
The A’s added another run in the sixth when Pinder hit a one-out triple off the wall in right-center and scored when Lowrie grounded a single through a drawn-in infield.
Blake Treinen, who hadn’t pitched in six days,
survived a rocky ninth, giving up one run, to pick up his 15th save.
“It was nice to get a win after a tough series gainst Houston and kind of beating ourselves yesterday,” Pinder said. “Sean came out and gave us six strong and the bullpen did what they’ve done all year.”
Manaea cruised through the first four innings, retiring 12 in order, before singles by Albert Pujols and Martin Maldonado were followed by Young’s threerun home run to give the Angels a 3-1 lead.
But Manaea gave up no more runs in the fifth and also pitched a scoreless sixth, putting himself in position for his first win in more than a month.
”Definitely collected myself and slowed the game down,” Manaea said. “Kind of going through the motions a little bit to Maldonado and Young. I was throwing it and not executing. After the home run, I just stepped off and really had to focus.”
• Lowrie, who started his first game at third base since 2015, fielded only one ground ball and successfully got Andrelton Simmons at first base.
• Treinen walked Mike Trout and Pujols to lead off the ninth inning and eventually gave up a run-scoring single to pinch hitter Jose Fernandez before nailing down the save.
“He needs breaks, but how long is too long,” Melvin said. “Maybe this time was a little bit too long.”
Yusmeiro Petit pitched a scoreless seventh and Lou Trivino the eighth.
• Pinder’s home run was a line drive that didn’t look at first as if it would carry over the fence. On his triple, Pinder saw the ball bounce away from Mike Trout and never hesitated going to third.
“When I saw it get past Trout, I was like, ‘Got to push it here,’ ” Pinder said.