The Halos set out to show that game 1 was a fluke. Today the A’s were exactly what we thought they were and it was a beautiful sight to behold.
It started off as an intriguing matchup between Japanese import Shintaro Fujinami (making his MLB debut) and Team Mexico’s ace Patrick Sandoval.
The first two innings were rather uneventful for both sides, but then the Angels decided to show off the new-look offense in a big way. After a walk and a single, Logan decided to say “O’ Hoppe Day!” with a sharply hit two-bagger to the wall to drive in Rengifo for the first run.
Taylor Ward and Shohei followed up with singles to drive in Urshela and O’Hoppe.
After a sac fly by Rendon, new backup first baseman Jake Lamb came through with a bouncer off the mound and into centerfield to score two more runs, making it 6-0 Halos.
With that, Fujinami’s day was quickly over and new pitcher Adam Oller (and his beard) came in to endure more punishment as the lineup turned over. Urshela decided that stealing a mermaid’s voice wasn’t enough for him; he wanted to steal A’s fans’ hearts with a 2 RBI single to make it 6-0.
Another RBI via a sac fly from O’Hoppe paved the way for Taylor Ward to open the floodgates with the first Halos homer of 2023 to close out the scoring for the inning and make it 11-0.
That would finally end the inning, which turned out to be one of the biggest scoring innings in team history. Sandoval wasn’t his normal dominant self with only 2 strikeouts, but 5 innings with only 2 hits and 1 run allowed due to a Ramon Laureano homer will get the job done any day.
Tucker Davidson came in and pitched 4 shutout innings in garbage time ending a solid pitching day for the team and a great follow-up to a disappointing Opening Day. A couple more RBI singles from Ohtani and Ward made it a 13-1 final score. We’re at .500! Let’s become a winning team tomorrow!
