Oakland A’s offensive production returns with help from Shohei Ohtani

The Oakland A’s jumped on Shohei Ohtani, taking an early lead as they held on to a 6-4 victory over the Angels.

After a quiet offensive afternoon on Saturday, the Oakland A’s claimed a 6-4 victory over the LA Angels with a bit of help from Shohei Ohtani.

Making his first big league pitching appearance since 2018, Ohtani did not record an out on Sunday afternoon. Walking three of the first four batters allowed the A’s to capitalize on Ohtani’s struggles.

Ohtani walked in a run and then allowed two straight RBI singles by Mark Cahna and Robbie Grossman, which spelled the end of the day for Ohtani.

Joe Maddon brought in starter Matt Andriese to stop the bleeding. Andriese got three straight outs and threw 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball for the Angels.

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Reigning MVP Mike Trout did his best to keep the Angels in the game. A three run home run in the third and a sacrifice fly in the fifth was all of the offensive production from the Halos on the sunny Sunday afternoon in Oakland.

Athletics starting pitcher Mike Fiers only lasted four innings this afternoon, continuing a troubling trend after Sean Manaea only made it through the fourth inning on Saturday.

After Andriese left in the bottom of the sixth, Sean Murphy blasted a solo home run to left field which gave the A’s their insurance run and extended the lead to 6-4.

The A’s bullpen again kept the pitching staff afloat, with five different relievers combining for five shutout innings of work.

The Angels never really staged a rally until the eighth inning, but closer Liam Hendriks came in one out early to stomp out any chance of a Los Angeles rally.

A day after having a worrisome offense performance, Marcus Semien, Ramon Laureano, Mark Canha, Robbie Grossman, and Sean Murphy all contributed to the hit parade for the Athletics.

Securing at least a tie in their opening series, the Oakland A’s face off against the Angels one more time Monday afternoon with a 12:40 PM PT start in Oakland.  Chris Bassitt will go toe to toe with Angels starter Griffin Canning for the series finale.