It can always be worse.
Seriously, imagine being a sports fan in Oakland. All your teams are gone. You cannot even fallback on college sports as Cal Berkley is facing its own crisis now that the Pac is in deep trouble and Cal itself may not support football for much longer. This is worse than what happened to San Diego, or Montreal, or Washington DC. Those cities at least had another team to fall back on, something to rally behind.
That is what you need to keep in mind when you think about this game. You see, Jose Suarez was just feeling so bad about the situation that he tipped his pitches for 3 innings and allowed 7 runs. That is the only explanation.
However, after a slow start, the Angels clawed back to tie the game and even took the lead, before blowing it to force extras. Because nothing can be easy for this team. Nope.
And they blew it in extras. Angels lose again and are under .500 again. Want more agony, read on.
Highlighted Recap
Jose Suarez was not having a good time, allowing two home runs in the first.
Oh and then another one in the 2nd.
So it was 5-0 A’s and it was only the 2nd. But luckily, the A’s suck, so the Angels hit one in the bottom half.
Sadly, Suarez still threw the ball down the middle and allowed yet another home run.
Make that 2.
This is when Mike Trout realized that Jose Suarez was being too nice to Oakland fans and told him to stop it so he did and pitched 2 innings without allowing a home run. Why Matt Wise didn’t say jack, no one knows.
Now that that’s over, Giggachad Wallach hit one out as well to make the game slightly more bearable.
Anthony Rendon then remembered that he hates Oakland so he doubled in Troutani to make it 7-4 A’s.
Giggachad then blooped in a 5th run.
Then Neto tied the game up with a double.
It was a brand new game. And after Tucker Davidson had a shutdown inning, Brandon Drury brought in another run!
It was now up to the bullpen to close this out. Well, about that… while the 8th went smoothly, Wantz couldn’t get that strikeout pitch and walked 2 batters in the 9th before being yanked. Barria came in and walked in a run.
And then, with 2 outs and the bases loaded, the A’s hit a grand slam-WARD CAUGHT IT!
Angels now have a chance to walk it off- and we are in extras now. Ugh. And then Barria allowed 2 runs to score.
Oh and a 3rd run.
Down 3, the Angels had to claw back again, and if it went to the 11th, yeah, this would not bode well. With a runner on second, a good hit would help. Drury came through and hit a home run, even if he doesn’t know it.
After Rengifo tried to stretch a single to a double, a walk and a HBP put 2 on for Ward. He struck out. Mike Trout was next. He grounded to 3rd. Game over. Angels lose.
Upcoming
Angels lose again. Under .500 on the season. More A’s tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day…