Angels 2, A’s 0: Oakland allows one hit, a two- run homer.
ANAHEIM — Making a spot start because of Jesse Hahn’s blister, Jesse Chavez turned in an excellent outing that included just one mistake.
And it cost him and the A’s the game.
Kole Calhoun clubbed a two- run homer off Chavez in the third inning — the only hit of the day off Chavez and the A’s — and Oakland was shut out by a series of Angels pitchers in a 2- 0 loss in Thursday’s series finale. The A’s split the four games in Anaheim and went 5- 5 on the three- city trip.
They return to the Coliseum on Friday to take on the — would you believe? — firstplace Astros.
“I can’t remember the last time we got beat by one hit. It’s frustrating,” said manager Bob Melvin.
There’s a good reason Melvin can’t remember. It’s only the fourth time in franchise history — dating to at least 1914 — that the A’s have allowed only one hit and lost; the most recent time had been April 14, 1992, in Kansas City.
Chavez, a member of the Oakland rotation in the first half of 2014, was making his first start of this season. He went six innings and allowed just the homer and three walks while striking out four. He’d entered the game unscored upon in 6 2⁄3 innings of relief.
Lifetime, Chavez has made three starts against the Angels and is 0- 2 with a 2.37 ERA.
“Hey, you can’t ask for much more from Jesse,” said Melvin. “He goes out there and gives you 90 pitches and gives up one hit. He certainly did his job.”
Drew Butera reached on an error by A’s third baseman Brett Lawrie to open the third, and with one out, Calhoun went deep to right center on a 1- 1 pitch.
Chavez said Calhoun hit “a sinker that came back. The ball was a little bit up. I should have gone four- seam instead of two.”
But he was understandably pleased with the outing.
“That was very encouraging after three weeks of not being extended, to go out there and have the same stuff from the first hitter to the last.”
The Angels’ Nick Tropeano, also making a fill- in start, worked six scoreless innings in his first career appearance against the A’s and yielded five hits and a walk while striking out five. C. J. Wilson, the originally scheduled starter, was pushed back because of elbow stiffness.
The A’s outhit the Angels 8- 1 and had a few scattered scoring opportunities, but went 0- for- 6 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven runners.
Perhaps their best opportunity came in the eighth with two on and one out against Joe Smith, but the reliever struck out Ike Davis and got Josh Reddick to fly out to the warning track in right to end the inning.
Angels second baseman Johnny Giavotella made a sensational play up the middle on a hard grounder in the ninth by Eric Sogard for the second out of the inning. Marcus Semien then reached on an infield single off Angels closer Huston Street, but Ben Zobrist, who missed the first three games of the series with a sore left knee, pinch hit and fouled out to end the game.
“I was pretty reluctant to use ( Zobrist),” said Melvin, “but I didn’t want to leave him in my pocket with the tying run up in the ninth.”
Zobrist is unsure whether he’ll start Friday. He has yet to do baserunning drills or full work in the field and said his knee still feels “weird.”
How he feels when he gets to the ballpark Friday might clarify things, but Zobrist said he felt encouraged by how things went Thursday and said his knee “seems to be getting better every day.”