Field Level Media
May 29, 2021
The Oakland Athletics took advantage of two walks and an error to knock out Shohei Ohtani in the seventh inning Friday night, using a two-run uprising to beat the visiting Los Angeles Angels 3-1.
Sean Manaea pitched 6 2/3 strong innings and batterymate Sean Murphy delivered a key RBI single as the A's won their second consecutive game to begin the four-game series and third straight overall.
Pushed back a day after a traffic-related incident forced him to be scratched from Thursday's series opener, Ohtani (1-1) matched Manaea pitch-for-pitch before walking Jed Lowrie and Mitch Moreland to open the seventh in a 1-1 tie.
Matt Chapman followed with a single, and even though Lowrie was being held at third, Angels left fielder Justin Upton bobbled the ball in his haste to get it back to the infield, allowing Lowrie to accelerate again and score the tie-breaking run.
Ohtani was pulled at that point, and Murphy followed by greeting reliever Steve Cishek with a single, scoring Moreland with an insurance run.
Both of the runs were charged to Ohtani, giving him three earned runs allowed in six-plus innings. He served up just three hits and four walks, striking out five.
Yusmeiro Petit (7-0), who got the final out of the top of the seventh to preserve the 1-1 tie before working a 1-2-3 eighth, was credited with the win. Lou Trivino threw a three-up, three-down ninth for his seventh save.
Facing a lineup that did not include Ohtani, Manaea limited the Angels to one run and six hits in his 6 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out eight.
The game went scoreless into the last of the sixth when the A's used small-ball to get the game's first run on a single by Elvis Andrus, a Mark Canha hit batsman, a sacrifice bunt by Tony Kemp and a sacrifice fly by Matt Olson.
The Angels drew even and ended Manaea's night in the top of the seventh, with David Fletcher delivering Jose Rojas from second with a two-out single.
Petit struck out Upton to bring the A's to the plate tied at 1-1.
Andrus had the game's only multi-hit night with two singles. The Angels' Kurt Suzuki had the only extra-base hit, a double.
--Field Level Media