Oakland Athletics vs Los Angeles Angels Match Player Stats On Sep 28, 2018

Shohei Ohtani had three hits, Mike Trout hit his 39th home run and the Los Angeles Angels held on for an 8-5 win over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night in Anaheim, Calif.

Five Angels pitchers combined on a five-hitter, with Oakland not getting a hit until Jed Lowrie led off the sixth inning with a single. The A's scored all five of their runs in the eighth inning on three hits, two walks, two Angels errors and a wild pitch.

The win for the Angels (79-81) was their fourth in a row and kept alive their chances of finishing the season at .500.

About the time the A's and Angels were starting their game, the New York Yankees were finishing a victory over the Boston Red Sox, clinching home field for their American League wild-card game against Oakland on Wednesday. That put A's manager Bob Melvin into the position of adjusting his pitching rotation and gearing it toward next week's wild-card game in the Bronx.

Lou Trivino, normally a reliever, started Friday's game for Oakland and pitched one scoreless inning. The Angels then scored three runs in the second inning against Mike Fiers, normally a starter, after Ohtani led off with a single and Justin Upton was hit by a pitch. One out later, Ohtani and Upton pulled off a double steal, moving to second and third.

The Angels scored their first run of the inning when Francisco Arcia grounded out to third, driving in Ohtani. Taylor Ward followed with a two-run homer, his fifth of the season since being called up from the minors on Aug. 14.

In the third inning, the Angels increased their lead to 5-0 after Jose Fernandez doubled and Trout followed with a two-run homer off Fiers (12-8). It was Trout's 39th of the season, two short of his career high of 41 set in 2015.

Meanwhile, Angels starter Jaime Barria was effectively wild, holding the A's hitless but walking six batters. He was removed from the game with two out in the fifth after walking consecutive batters, his fifth and sixth of the game, even though he did not allow a hit.

The Angels increased their lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the fifth on Ohtani's sacrifice fly, then added two more runs in the seventh on an RBI single by Ohtani and a bases-loaded walk by Andrelton Simmons for an 8-0 lead.

Los Angeles reliever Taylor Cole (4-2) threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings to get the win. Hansel Robles pitched the ninth for his second save.

--Field Level Media