Seven runs in one inning! Is that even allowed? The Angels bats woke up in a huge way in the top of the 4th inning and had the best Halo Blitz we’ve seen in a while.
It was great timing as Jose Soriano was not his best tonight. The A’s plated one run in the bottom of the second then put up a three spot in the bottom of the third. That meant the Angels were in a 4-0 hole then all Hades broke loose.
Christian Moore hit a sac fly to punch in Nolan Schanuel then Denzer Guzman absolutely destroyed a baseball to get the Angels to 3-0. The kids are alright!
The train kept a rolling and all with two outs. Logan O’Hoppe and Wade Meckler reached base to extend the inning then Jose Siri roped a ball over the fence to push the Angels to a 6-4 lead.
Siri’s bomb went 444 feet, beating Guzman’s by 11 feet. Both balls were absolutely destroyed. With the Angels offense rolling, Zach Neto took his turn and cracked the third Angels home run of the inning and pushed the Angels lead to 7-4.
Neto had highlights on both sides of the ball tonight. At his best he is an electric player who is a ton of fun to watch. And he flashed his best tonight.
Soriano settled down and kept the A’s off the board in the fourth and fifth innings. After taking a break from bashing the ball, the Angels offense kicked in again in the top of the sixth.
Logan O’Hoppe scored the big blow with his 3 run bomb that plated Jo Adell and Oswald Peraza.
Sacramento was throwing out homers like Oprah used to hand out prizes to the audience. You get a home run! You get a home run! Nolan Schanuel gets a home run!
Normally a 7 run lead in the bottom of the sixth inning is enough to cruise to a win. But not this night and not with this bullpen.
Mitch Farris came in and started giving up base runners. When he gave up a run in the bottom of the 6th it cut the lead to 11-5. Not a big deal. But when he gave up a 2 run bomb in the 7th it suddenly felt like the score was a lot closer than 11-7.
And it was. Chase Silseth gave up a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 8th then a massive home run to Max Muncy and cut the lead to 11-9.
Sam Bachman came in to close out the game and gave up a one out double. But he stranded it to preserve the win.
That’s what I typed as Bachman served up an epic bomb to give up the lead and tie the game at 11. Yes, the Angels bullpen blew a 7 run lead prior to recording 12 outs.
A failure to score the inherited runner in the top of the 10th set up the inevitable: Kirby Yates. Amazingly he did not give up a run. But he did load the bases with one out and bring Nick Kurtz to the plate with a chance to win the game.
Samy Natera Jr. was brought in to face Kurtz. When a 3-1 fastball sailed high, Kurtz walked and won the game 12-11.
