A pitcher’s duel in Anaheim went the visiting team’s way, with the Oakland A’s escaping with a 2-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night to take Game 2 of the series.
Chris Bassitt out-dueled Angels starter Patrick Sandoval, holding the Angels scoreless through seven innings. He escaped a handful of jams, including one in the sixth started when an apparent strike three wasn’t called to Shohei Ohtani, who singled on the next pitch. Sean Murphy, though, caught Ohtani stealing second.
Murphy’s arm saved at least one run. Justin Upton and Max Stassi hit back-to-back singles, but Bassitt struck out Brandon Marsh swinging at a high 93 mph fastball to end it. He followed that inning up with a five-pitch seventh inning.
Bassitt had to be perfect, because the A’s had little going on offensively — as has been the trend over a rough month of July. The A’s loaded the bases twice and squeezed one run on Mark Canha’s bases-loaded walk in the fourth inning, loaded on a trio of hits from Jed Lowrie, Elvis Andrus and Sean Murphy.
Sandoval walked six A’s batters and allowed four hits, but managed to keep the A’s 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position. But Oakland ran Sandoval’s pitch count up to 115 and forced him out of the game with two outs in the fifth inning, pumped up by a 10-pitch walk to Andrus — who reached base four times.
Matt Chapman provided some cushion with a home run off reliever Mike Mayers, Chapman’s 14th home run of the year.
