On a day four more players went down
http://www.greenbaypackersteamonline.com/jaire-alexander-jersey ,
the Los Angeles Angels showed their depth and resiliency.
Ian Kinsler homered and drew a bases-loaded walk, Mike Trout had three hits and a sacrifice fly, and the injury-plagued Angels beat the Oakland Athletics
8-4 on Friday night to snap a four-game skid.
Tyler Skaggs (6-4) struck out eight over seven strong innings, allowing no earned runs and seven hits with one walk. He improved to 3-0 with a 0.45 ERA in
June.
”Tyler was right on the money tonight. He had all his pitches working,” manager Mike Scioscia said.
The Angels placed four more players on the disabled list Friday, bringing their total to a franchise-record 15 on the DL at one time and leaving just 12
members of the opening day roster. The A’s in 2016 were the last club to have 15
players simultaneously on the DL.
It was a nice boost for Skaggs to get a big lead early and see his teammates come out strong despite all the injuries.
”It’s a testament to (GM) Billy Eppler. You look at our farm system a few years ago, we’d have never be able to do this,” Skaggs said. ”We’re still
growing and a lot of guys stepped up tonight.”
Jose Briceno and Jose Miguel Fernandez had RBI singles in the third as Los Angeles bounced back with a big offensive night after having lost four straight
following a six-game winning streak. The Angels avoided matching their longest
losing streak of the season.
Skaggs didn’t allow a run until consecutive RBI doubles by Josh Phegley and Marcus Semien in the fifth.
But Oakland again didn’t score for starter Chris Bassitt (0-2), who was done after four innings after he allowed six runs – only two earned on a sloppy night
of fielding for the home team – on seven hits.
Bassitt hurt his cause when he fielded Albert Pujols‘ first-inning grounder and threw high over first baseman Matt Olson’s head, allowing two runs to
score.
”The early part of the game was about as bad as we’ve played,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said.
Oakland dropped its fourth straight game on the heels of a sweep by World Series champion Houston the previous three days.
Bassitt was brought back up from Triple-A Nashville for his fourth big league stint of 2018, this time to fill Trevor Cahill’s spot in the rotation.
The right-hander is 0-8 over his last 12 starts dating to Aug. 21, 2015.
He received no runs of support for a second straight outing – the seventh time in 25 career starts the A’s failed to score for him – and he has received
two or fewer runs of support in 21 of his 25 starts.
Angels reliever Justin Anderson received a mound visit from Scioscia and a trainer after loading the bases with two outs in the ninth, and Scioscia said
afterward one of the pitcher’s fingernails had cracked. Anderson then allowed a
run on a wild pitch.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: Going on the DL Friday for the Angels were INF Zack Cozart (partially dislocated left shoulder), RHP Jim Johnson (lower back strain), RHP Garrett
Richards (strained left hamstring) and RHP Nick Tropeano (inflammation in his
pitching shoulder). The Angels called up four righty pitchers from Triple-A Salt
Lake: Eduardo Paredes, Akeel Morris, Felix Pena and Jake Jewell. … SS Andrelton
Simmons (sprained right ankle) ran the bases for a second straight day and is
making
progress
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Scioscia said. Simmons was taking batting practice as well.
Athletics: 3B Matt Chapman is set to be placed on the DL on Saturday with a bruised right hand that also bothered him in spring. He may see a specialist. An
MRI showed no structural damage, Melvin said. Chapman’s consecutive games streak
ended at 149 games dating to last season. He and Olson were only players to
appear in first 69 games, while Olson played in his 70th straight this season
Friday.
UP NEXT
Angels: LHP John Lamb will be called up from Triple-A to start Saturday, meaning the Angels must make another move by designating someone for assignment
to clear space on the 40-man roster.
Athletics: LHP Sean Manaea (5-6, 3.49) pitches for the A’s, having gone 1-4 with a 5.93 ERA over his last eight starts.
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The normally stoic Charlie Morton actually cracked a smile after he was reminded that his stellar outing gave him 10 wins for just the third time in his
11-year career.
However, the Houston right-hander was quick to point out that he wouldn’t have such success without help from his teammates, a fact that was on display on
Tuesday.
Morton (10-1) struck out 13 in seven innings, Jake Marisnick hit a three-run homer in the eighth after preserving the shutout with a big defensive play in
the sixth as the Astros got a 7-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
He scattered four hits and walked two for his third straight win to become Houston’s first 10-game winner.
”I didn’t even think about that,” he said of reaching 10 wins for the second straight year. ”Yeah, that’s a lot. That’s good. Honestly the wins, that’s a
team thing. I give most of the credit to the guys in there.”
Toronto manager John Gibbons raved about Morton.
”Morton is in a class of his own,” he said. ”He’s in an elite group now. He wasn’t giving us much.”
Evan Gattis put Houston up with a two-run single in the fifth. Marisnick padded the lead with his shot to left field with one out in the eighth and Alex
Bregman, who tied a career-high with four hits, added a two-run homer with two
outs in the inning for his second straight game with a home run.
Marisnick’s homer came after he dazzled on defense two innings earlier. Teoscar Hernandez singled with two outs in the sixth before Yangervis Solarte
drew a walk. Marisnick then robbed Justin Smoak of extra bases when he leaped
and bounced off the wall in left-center to grab his fly ball.
”It’s a close game and everything that was on the line with that play … the game is completely different if he doesn’t make that catch,” manager A.J. Hinch
said.
Marisnick, who routinely makes tough catches, said that it was definitely in the top-5 in his career and joked about jumping significantly higher than left
fielder Josh Reddick on the play.
”I’m going to get a poster made of that with Reddick a little bit lower than me
http://www.greenbaypackersteamonline.com/aaron-jones-jersey ,”
he said.
Toronto’s Ryan Borucki (0-1) had a solid start in his major league debut, allowing six hits and two runs while walking four with three strikeouts in six
innings.
”I thought he was fantastic against a great hitting ballclub,” Gibbons said. ”They put the pressure on him, and he didn’t cave.”
Chris Devenski struck out one in the eighth and Hector Rondon allowed one hit in the ninth to give Houston its seventh shutout this season.
The Blue Jays couldn’t do anything against Morton early as he struck out the side in the first before walking Smoak to start the second. But Smoak was caught
stealing and Morton struck out the next two batters to allow him to face the
minimum through two.
The last two batters in the second inning were the first of 10 straight retired by Morton, capped by five strikeouts in a row. Russell Martin gave
Toronto its first hit on a single with two outs in the fifth and Randal Grichuk
followed with a broken-bat single, but Aledmys Diaz grounded out to end the
inning.
Bregman, who hit three doubles, doubled with one out in the fifth before Jose Altuve drew a walk. Both players advanced on a wild pitch with two outs before
the Astros made it 2-0 on the double to left-center by Gattis.
Houston catcher Brian McCann was shaken up when Solarte hit him on the helmet on his backswing in the sixth inning. McCann was checked out by the team trainer
before staying in the game.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: INF Josh Donaldson, who has been on the disabled list since June 1 because of calf tightness, strained his left calf while preparing to play in a
rehabilitation game for Class A Dunedin on Tuesday. An MRI revealed the acute
strain and the team said he’ll be re-evaluated in three weeks. … LHP Jaime
Garcia (sore left shoulder) will see a specialist on Thursday before returning
to Florida to continue his rehabilitation.
Astros: SS Carlos Correa got a game off on Tuesday as he deals with what Hinch said is ”a little bit of back stiffness.” Hinch said Correa was OK and the
day off was more for rest than anything else. … RHP Joe Smith (right elbow
inflammation) will throw one more bullpen before beginning a rehabilitation
assignment this weekend.
ONE CITY, TWO MVPs
Altuve took a minute on Tuesday to congratulate Houston Rockets’ star James Harden for winning his first MVP trophy a night before. Altuve, who was named
MVP for the first time last season, thinks it’s cool that Houston now has two
MVPs.
”It was well-deserved … I would have been mad if he didn’t win it,” Altuve said.
UP NEXT
Houston left-hander Dallas Keuchel (4-8, 3.90 ERA) opposes Marco Estrada (4-7, 4.48) when these teams wrap up the series on Wednesday. Keuchel hasn’t
allowed an earned run in his last two starts and Estrada allowed just three hits
and two runs in seven innings in his last start but took the loss in a 2-1
defeat by the Angels.
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