OLD-SCHOOL WIN
Sandoval gives solid start; Herget channels `his inner Rollie Fingers' for save
OAKLAND >> The Angels turned the clock back to the 1970s with the way they used their pitchers on Sunday.
With the relievers they would normally use to close out a victory all unavailable because of their recent workload, Jimmy Herget took over for Patrick Sandoval and handled the final eight outs in the Angels 4-1 victory over the Oakland A’s.
Manager Joe Maddon noted that Herget picked up an oldschool save in the same ballpark where a Hall of Fame career was built on two- and threeinning saves.
“Channelling his inner Rollie Fingers today in this ballpark,” Maddon said. “I kind of dug that.”
Herget recorded his first save in his 57th career game, helping the Angels (24-13) take three of four in the series and move to 11 games over .500 for the first time since 2015.
Shohei Ohtani hit a first-inning two-run homer against Oakland ace Frankie Montas, and the Angels were still clinging to a 2-1 lead when Sandoval was pulled after a 101-pitch outing.
The Angels’ bullpen choices were limited because Raisel Iglesias, Ryan Tepera and Aaron Loup all pitched on Friday and Saturday, and Oliver Ortega threw 24 pitches over parts of three innings on Saturday.
Maddon summoned Herget in the seventh to face a pair of hitters who have traditionally fared well against the Angels. He retired Jed Lowrie and Ramon Laureano.
By the time Herget took the mound in the eighth, the Angels had an insurance run on an Anthony Rendon RBI. Herget gave up a leadoff double, but he retired the next three in a row. In
the ninth, the Angels had given him one more run on an Andrew Velazquez RBI double, but Herget didn’t need it. He pitched a scoreless inning.
It was the longest relief outing of his career, both in terms of outs and the 44 pitches he threw. He threw three innings when he started a bullpen game last month.
“I closed all the time in Triple-A, and it was always a goal of mine to get a save in the big leagues,” Herget said. “I got it the hard way, but I got it.”
That closed out the victory for Sandoval, who made it through 6-1/3 innings without his best stuff.
“Not great command overall, but he’s capable of doing that,” Maddon said. “It’s hard to put him in play. It’s hard to put him in play hard. It’s hard to square him up. Even when he’s off a little bit with his command, he’s got a variety of pitches that make it difficult. Even if he gets a baserunner one or two, he can pitch out of it because of the swing and miss and weak contact.”
Sandoval’s changeup is his best pitch, and he hadn’t allowed a hit on it all season. However, he gave up two hits, walked a batter and hit a batter with his changeup. He ended up throwing it just 19% of the time, down from his previous rate of 27%.
Instead, he leaned heavily on his slider, throwing it 36 times in his 101 pitches. The A’s whiffed at 45% of their swings on his slider.
“The changeup wasn’t working, so I had to find something else,” Sandoval said. “I didn’t have the changeup. They hit it twice for hits. I had to find something else and the slider was the pitch.”
Sandoval allowed nine baserunners, but he was able to escape significant damage. He struck out Christian Bethancourt to leave the bases loaded in the first. In the second the first two hitters reached, but he allowed just one run on a groundout.
Sandoval struck out Sean Murphy on a slider to strand runners at second and third in the fifth.
He then pitched a perfect sixth.
“I don’t want to get in those jams in the first place, but when you’re in them, you’ve got to get out of them,” Sandoval said. “And I think I did a pretty good job today.”
The result was the Angels winning a series against a division rival on the road, including a victory when the opposing starter pitched well. Those were the type of games the Angels lost frequently last season. The Angels were 29-47 against American League West opponents last season, including 4-15 against the A’s. This year they are 9-6, and they have won all three road series in the division.
“Our goal is to win within our division,” Maddon said. “That’s a big goal of ours this year. We were horrible at it last year, and especially against Oakland. They beat up on us like a drum last year. We have to get better within our division. We’ve got to win series like this on the road. That’s it. It’s simple. It’s not complicated. We have to win games within our division and we have so far.”