Angels robbed of game-tying hit in the ninth, lose again to A’s

ANAHEIM — Max Stassi was inches distant from being capable to hide a frustrating night, and past it got adjacent much frustrating.

The Angels catcher deed a shot that seemed to beryllium ticketed for right-center tract and a game-tying deed successful the bottommost of the ninth, but Oakland A’s 2nd baseman leapt and snagged it to nonstop the Angels to a 3-1 nonaccomplishment connected Saturday night.

“He had clip that leap perfectly and helium did,” Angels Manager Joe Maddon said. “It wasn’t scorched but is 1 of those things that usually gets implicit someones glove. That’s the communicative of portion with (the A’s). We’ve had a batch of these games (against Oakland).”

It was a gut-wrenching extremity to the nighttime for Stassi, who had been called retired connected strikes successful each of his archetypal 3 trips to the plate.

The Angels had not done overmuch offensively each night, trailing 3-1 successful the bottommost of the ninth and wasting a coagulated outing from starter José Suarez.

They yet enactment thing unneurotic successful the ninth, with 2 hits and a locomotion to load the bases. The 2 outs had some been hard hit, too.

But erstwhile Harrison came down with Stassi’s thrust for the last out, the Angels alternatively had yet different nonaccomplishment to the A’s. They are 4-14 against Oakland with 1 crippled left, connected Sunday.

One of the positives was the bounceback for Suarez, who collected himself aft allowing 3 runs successful the first.

Suarez picked up the archetypal 2 outs of the crippled rapidly and past helium got up of Matt Olson, 0-and-2. His 3rd transportation was a fastball astatine the apical of the zone, and Olson launched it implicit the right-field fence.

Suarez past hardly missed the portion connected 2 consecutive pitches to locomotion Mark Canha. He past threw Chad Pinder a 1-and-2 changeup implicit the extracurricular country and Pinder went the different mode to enactment into the right-center tract gap, driving successful Canha.

While Suarez was hardly missing his spots — oregon other simply getting victimized by bully A’s hitting — successful those situations, helium did permission a 1-and-2 changeup implicit the bosom of the sheet to Matt Chapman. Chapman yanked a treble down the enactment to thrust successful the 3rd run.

Suarez retired 10 of the adjacent 11 hitters connected his mode to a 5-2/3 inning performance, with nary much runs connected the board. Suarez has a 3.67 ERA done 88-1/3 innings this season.

Maddon said it was awesome to spot Suarez get that heavy into the crippled without his champion stuff.

“He pitched (almost) six innings based connected a batch of guile and guts,” Maddon said. “He’s turning into a large league pitcher.”

Suarez’s bully rebound from the archetypal inning surely helped his ERA, but didn’t bash overmuch to assistance the Angels win, due to the fact that the hitters gave him nary enactment whatsoever.

James Kaprielian, a merchandise of Beckman High successful Irvine and UCLA, blanked the Angels connected 2 hits implicit six innings. The Angels lone had 2 at-bats with a runner successful scoring presumption against Kaprielian.

The Angels yet got connected the committee successful the seventh with the assistance of a telephone overturned connected replay.

A’s pitcher Deolis Guerra fell to the crushed aft stepping connected archetypal for the evident 3rd out, and the shot popped retired of his glove. After that overturned telephone extended the inning, Jose Rojas delivered a two-out RBI azygous to chopped the shortage to 3-1.

The Angels got that break, but past they didn’t get immoderate successful the ninth, sending them to yet different nonaccomplishment against the A’s.

“We’re 4-14 against them and that crippled you saw contiguous and past nighttime (a 5-4 loss) we’ve played often,” Maddon said. “We person to fig retired to get implicit the hump vs them and we will. We’re connected the verge close now.”