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Oakland A’s Struggle In Loss to Angels After Dramatic Opening Day Win

By MJ Hurley

OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 21: Jesus Luzardo #44 of the Oakland Athletics pitches during the game against the Texas Rangers at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on September 21, 2019 in Oakland, California. The Athletics defeated the Rangers 12-3. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 21: Jesus Luzardo #44 of the Oakland Athletics pitches during the game against the Texas Rangers at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on September 21, 2019 in Oakland, California. The Athletics defeated the Rangers 12-3. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images) /
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A promising start did not turn into the desired result for Sean Manaea and the Oakland A’s on Saturday.

After a late night win on Opening Day, the Oakland A’s had a promising start to their ballgame on Saturday, but the promising start did not translate into a win.

Starter Sean Manaea began the game by retiring the first 10 batters, had 12 first pitch strikes to begin the game and was perfect until Justin Upton drilled a solo homerun into the left field seats.

Until the solo shot by Upton, Manaea and Angels starter Dylan Bundy were matching each other pitch for pitch. Manaea escaped the 4th without any additional danger, which is something that could not be said for the 5th inning.

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In the top of the 5th, the Angels added three runs with an RBI double from Andrelton Simmons and a two run double from David Fletcher.

The A’s added their only run in the bottom of the 7th. After a double from Stephen Piscotty which ran Bundy from the game, Robbie Grossman drove in Piscotty with an RBI single.

For Dylan Bundy, this was only the second start out of his 103 career starts with seven or more strikeouts and only one run allowed.

Although Manaea had a rough end to his 4.2 inning outing, he looked sharp after limited action in Summer Training. Attacking the zone early and even hitting 90 MPH four times at the beginning of the game, he showed the ability to use all of his pitches when needed.

After J.B. Wendelken finished off the 5th, young phenom Jesus Luzardo came in to provide three dominant innings in relief. With little action before the season, Luzardo showed exactly why he will be in the rotation once his pitch count rises.

Hitting 99 MPH at times, Luzardo struck out two and gave up only one hit through his three innings of work.

The A’s tried to stage a rally in the eighth, however, Matt Chapman hitting into a 6-4-3 double play ended the hopes of another late inning Oakland comeback.

After a quick inning by Lou Trivino, the Angels shut down the Oakland A’s with Hansel Robles making quick work of the Oakland lineup in the bottom of the 9th and securing the 4-1 victory for the Los Angeles Angels.

Next. Bassitt looking to build off 2019 breakout. dark

Sunday will feature two-way player Shohei Ohtani going up against Oakland starter Mike Fiers in the second straight afternoon game at the Coliseum. Angels vs. Athletics will start at 1:10PM PT for the third game of a four game series.