A’s fall: Oakland held to two hits in loss in Anaheim.
ANAHEIM — Kendall Graveman finally figured out how to get Albert Pujols out Saturday, but by that point, the Angels’ designated hitter already had decided the game.
Pujols hit a two-out solo homer off the A’s rookie in the first inning at Angel Stadium, and C.J. Wilson handled the rest, holding Oakland to two hits in seven innings. Despite a terrific effort from Graveman, the A’s fell 1-0 to the Angels — the dreaded one-run loss. Oakland fell to a big-leagueworst 4-18 in one-run games, and the team with the American League’s worst record has dropped six of its past eight games.
Catcher Stephen Vogt called Saturday’s game “our season in a nutshell.”
“C.J. threw a great game; Kendall matched him,” Vogt said. “C.J. made some mis- takes, and we hit them right at people.”
The A’s, who have fared poorly against left-handers this year, had just three at-bats against Wilson with runners in scoring position. He struck out Billy Butler to end the second and Sam Fuld to end the fifth with men in scoring position.
In the seventh with one out, men at first and second, and his pitch count over 100, Wilson went 3-2 on Vogt, who’d struck out his first two at-bats, before getting him to hit a screaming line drive into Efran Navarro’s glove at first. Navarro threw to second, where Josh Phegley was too far off the bag to get back safely.
“Vogt hit a bullet today,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “If it ends up in the corner, it’s probably two runs.”
“I’d have rather rolled over and hit an 18-hopper that kicks into our dugout and scores two runs,” Vogt said.
The A’s are 3-13 against lefthanded starters, compared with 22-26 against right-hander starters; they’re batting .222 against lefties overall, .265 against righties.
In Graveman’s two starts against the Angels, Pujols has four hits in six at-bats, including Saturday’s blast to left, which was Pujols’ 10th homer in his past 15 games.
Graveman did get him out, although the rookie didn’t make it easy on himself after going 3-0 on Pujols in the third. He got a called strike and then induced a fielder’s choice groundball. Pujols singled in the sixth and struck out in the eighth.
It was all about adjustments working in concert with his catcher, Phegley, Graveman said.
“I was able to do a couple of things differently I really hadn’t done in my career: go up with the fastball, throw the breaking ball down,” Graveman said. “That’s one thing I really take positive out of this. ... If you see a guy a third time, just change the eye level, sometimes that can be effective even if it’s not a strike.”
Graveman allowed eight his and walked no one while striking out seven in eight innings.
“He was terrific,” Melvin said. “He’s pitched some great games for us. I don’t know any better than that.”
Phegley helped, too, throwing out two runners at second, both on hit-and-runs. He has thrown out 8 of the past 11 baserunners attempting to steal, and 9 of 19 overall.
“To not have to rush to the plate is huge for pitchers. To know no matter who it is at first, he’s got a chance to throw them out,” Graveman said. “It’s a very positive thing defensively and mentally for a pitcher.”