Angels create a power surge
Pujols hits his 596th homer, Escobar hits a three-run drive and even Revere joins in.
OAKLAND — It took Ben Revere five years to hit his first home run in the major leagues. He does not normally hit them. So, when the Angels left fielder sneaked one over the right-field wall Tuesday night at the Oakland Coliseum for his seventh career homer, it became clear that luck might be on the Angels’ side for the night.
“I thought that was going to hit the fence,” Revere said. “I’m a wimp.”
The 5-foot-9, 175-pound outfielder and the Angels raced past the Athletics 7-3 in a game that featured five home runs.
Right-hander Jharel Cotton struck out Yunel Escobar and Kole Calhoun to begin the game, gave up Albert Pujols’ 596th homer, then struck out Luis Valbuena to end the inning.
Alex Meyer quickly ceded the lead in the Athletics’ half of the first. He issued a leadoff walk to Rajai Davis, who stole second and third. After a strikeout and a lineout, Meyer pumped a fastball
down the middle to Yonder Alonso, who walloped it to left-center field for a two-run home run. It was 98 mph, but it was not where Meyer wanted it.
The Angels again hounded Cotton in the second. Revere laced his twoout homer to right field, which was followed by consecutive singles from Cliff Pennington and Martin Maldonado. Yunel Escobar then timed a 2-and-2 changeup at his knees for a three-run home run.
With that homer, his fifth of 2017, Escobar matched his total from the 2016 season. One inning later, he drove in the Angels’ final run after Cameron Maybin doubled and Revere and Pennington each singled. Maldonado laid down a bunt to make Escobar’s run-scoring groundout possible.
Meyer worked around a walk in the second inning, two walks and a double in the third, and a double in the fourth. He carried a nearly even ratio of balls to strikes into the fourth, and did not set down the Athletics in order until the fifth.
Manager Mike Scioscia stuck with Meyer into the sixth, until he gave up another homer to Alonso and walked Matt Joyce. In his career-high-tying 51⁄3 innings, Meyer struck out seven and walked five. He did not approach dominance, but lasting that long represented progress considering his previous starts this season, in the majors and in triple A.
“When you look at the bottom line, at least getting us to 16 outs while being a bit erratic, that’s a great outing for him,” Scioscia said.
Blake Parker finished off the sixth inning and punctuated the seventh with a strikeout of Khris Davis. Next, Scioscia called upon left-hander Jose Alvarez, who retired Alonso, gave up two singles and escaped the trouble.
Rookie right-hander Keynan Middleton warmed up throughout the eighth inning and entered for the ninth. When he walked the first batter he faced on four pitches, closer Bud Norris began to throw in the bullpen.
When Middleton threw two more balls to Rajai Davis, pitching coach Charles Nagy visited the mound. Middleton soon walked Davis on five pitches and received a visit from his infield teammates to stall while Norris readied to enter.
He first faced Jed Lowrie, Monday’s 11th-inning hero. Lowrie laced Norris’ fourth pitch up the middle, directly to second baseman Pennington, who doubled off Oakland’s lead runner.
Two pitches later, Norris had secured the save, and the Angels the four-run victory. They had not won a game by more than three runs since April 7, the fifth day of the season.
Shortstop Andrelton Simmons returned to the Angels lineup after suffering bruises on his right hand and left thumb on a hit-bypitch Monday night.
“It doesn’t feel as good as it did before I got hit,” he said before the game. “But it feels good enough to swing, good enough to play.”
He said it did not affect his throwing.
“But can I use it as an excuse if I make a bad throw?” he said, laughing.
In fact, his throwing saved him from committing an error in the third inning, when Rajai Davis grounded a ball to him and he fumbled the pickup. Davis is exceptionally fast, but Simmons’ all-out throw after his recovery beat Davis to the base by a millisecond.
For a night, the Angels benefited on the margins.