A’s move to 5-0 in extra-inning games with win over LA Angels
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Mark Canha’s walk-off sac fly in the 10th inning sealed the A’s 5-4 extra-inning win Sunday afternoon over the Los Angeles Angels.
That’s it. The A’s are done with the Los Angeles Angels. The A’s took the series, 6-4 — and with it move to 4.5 games up on the Houston Astros in the American League West division.
Unless their AL West foes rally hard into a postseason spot, they won’t bear witness to any more monstrous Shohei Ohtani bombs. No more wondering how and when Mike Trout might flip a game with one swing. No automatic Anthony Rendon to worry about in the lineup right after.
An unexpected relief of ending the Angels series: the A’s won’t have to face Dylan Bundy again.
Third time’s the charm against Dylan Bundy
For an inning, it looked like the A’s had finally cracked Angels starter Dylan Bundy. The right-hander had faced the A’s twice this season already and held them to just one run over 13 2/3 innings.
It took an error by Angels rookie right fielder Jo Adell on Marcus Semien’s line drive gave them a needed nudge. Matt Chapman’s RBI double scored Semien and Mark Canha’s single scored Chapman. Two unearned runs was the most they’d ever taken from Bundy, but Bundy was still unconquered.
He mowed through the A’s for four more innings and two outs into the sixth, with his pitch count ramping into the 90s with a comfortable 4-2 lead — his manager, Joe Maddon, ejected somewhere in between for arguing balls and strikes. Robbie Grossman caught Bundy on his 97th pitch, doubling into right field. Then Stephen Piscotty tacked on his 21st RBI of the month with a single up the middle.
Against reliever Mike Mayers, powerful Sean Murphy eked a seeing eye single over second base to tie things up.
Bundy was an out away from owning the A’s this year. The A’s waited until his final out to have a final say — still, Bundy holds a 1.43 ERA against the Oakland lineup.
Frankie Montas struggles
Ohtani’s three-run home run blemished an iffy start for Montas, who was looking to bounce back from his worst career start in Arizona against the Diamondbacks in which he allowed nine earned runs in 1 2/3 innings.
He at least fared better Sunday. He had better command and struck out five Angels. But he walked three batters and navigated traffic through 4 2/3 tough innings.
Matt Chapman: Barrel king (or, close to it)
Matt Chapman’s cold streaks can be utterly freezing; he often looks like he’s guessing at the plate, his bat looks slow, and the strikeouts pile on.
But, his hot streaks aren’t just hot — they’re loud. The crack of his bat is one of the loudest in the league.
Yes, there’s a stat for the crack of the bat: a barrel. And Chapman’s averages 12.5 barrels anytime he makes contact, which ranks ninth in baseball. Comparatively, Boston Red Sox’s Mitch Moreland ranks first with 15.9 barrel average when he makes contact.
Chapman’s 101 mph double didn’t register as a barreled ball, per Statcast, but was indicative of the hard contact he makes. When Chapman hits the ball, it’s hard. His double in the first inning was his fifth-straight extra-base hit.