A pitcher's duel came down to the ninth inning. The Oakland A's bullpen couldn't hold a two-run lead. In extra innings, the A's beat the Angels, 3-2, to extend their win streak to five games and sweep Los Angeles.
Sergio Romo shouldered the burden, putting the game-tying runs in scoring position with a pair of hits and productive out. Jose Rojas's double tied the game. Though Jared Walsh, the game-tying run, held up at third initially, Romo didn't back up right fielder Seth Brown's throw, which sailed to the back stop to allow Walsh to score. Lou Trivino took over and struck out back-to-back batters to send the game into extra innings.
The A's took the lead in the 10th on a single from Mark Canha and sacrifice fly from Jed Lowrie, scoring designated runner Matt Olson from third.
In the thick of a contentious postseason race, Shohei Ohtani had to be the guy the Oakland A's wanted see on the mound Sunday afternoon.
Questions surrounded Ohtani's availability to pitch as he dealt with arm soreness, but he got Sunday's start at the last minute and was every bit a frustration for A's hitters. Good for Oakland, though, was that their starter Frankie Montas was up to match him inning-for-inning in a battle of two pitchers with some of baseball's best split-finger fastballs.
Montas held the Angels to one hit — a Brandon Marsh double in the third inning — and four walks in seven scoreless innings. Montas struck out seven Angels and got them to whiff on his splitter eight times.
The A's got to Ohtani a bit, at least. Yan Gomes was first, hitting a solo home run off his slider to give the A's a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Matt Chapman saw Ohtani well, hitting first a 111 mph double that went un-cashed in the second inning, then a 108mph solo home run in the fourth inning to make it 2-0.
The A's collected five hits off Ohtani, but struck out 10 times and whiffed at his famed splitter 17 times — they swung and missed on 26 pitches overall. The biggest whiff on a splitter came from Chapman, chance to add on with the bases loaded he swung through the pitch to leave them stranded.
With Ohtani out of the game, Oakland created some traffic in the ninth inning against Steve Cishek and Jose Quijada. Loading the bases on two walks and a hit, Olson popped out to end the threat.
