Lucroy's 11th Inning RBI Single Lifts Athletics Over Angels
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jonathan Lucroy flied out in his first chance at getting the winning hit. The next time up, he didn't miss.
Lucroy hit an RBI single off the center-field wall with the bases loaded in the 11th inning and the Athletics capped their comeback Sunday with a 6-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
"They stacked the left side up, so you don't want to roll into a double play right there," Lucroy said. "I was trying to stay inside the ball and hit it somewhere up the middle or the other way."
The A's rallied for two runs in the ninth to tie it at 5, an inning that ended when Lucroy hit a flyball with runners on first and second.
Jed Lowrie led off the 11th with a single and Jake Jewell (0-1) hit Khris Davis with a pitch. After Matt Olson flied out, Eduardo Paredes replaced Jewell and walked Mark Canha to load the bases.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia brought left fielder Justin Upton in for a five-man infield but it didn't matter. Lucroy hit a deep drive to win it.
"We had a couple guys coming out of the bullpen just brought too many walks with them and hit batters," Scioscia said. "We put too many guys on base from the ninth inning on and those guys got it done."
Canha hit an early two-run homer, and added a tying single with two outs in the ninth. Marcus Semien homered to begin the Oakland ninth.
Blake Treinen (4-1) got the win.
Angels slugger Albert Pujols hit his 625th career home run
It was another blown save for Scioscia's bullpen, the 15th by the Angels this season.
Blake Parker gave up two runs in the ninth. He also had a blown save Wednesday in Seattle. Canha's tying single came off Cam Bedrosian.
"We made them work early on and they picked us up every single time," Angels starter Andrew Heaney said. "They may be struggling now and some guys are having their issues and that's part of baseball."
Chris Young homered and Mike Trout reached base five times for the Angels.
Pujols' drive off Daniel Mengden was his fourth this month and 11th overall this season. It also moved the Angels' 38-year-old slugger within five home runs of tying Ken Griffey Jr. for sixth place all time.
Pujols also had an RBI single in the third.
Trout had homered in four of his previous six games. He had singles in the fifth and ninth, walked twice and was hit by a pitch.
NICE BUT NOTHING TO SHOW
Heaney allowed Canha's home run in the second and a sacrifice fly to Olson in the seventh. Beyond that, the left-hander was stellar with eight strikeouts in eight innings. "One mistake to Canha that was a changeup down the heart of the plate," Scioscia said. "Outside of that he was dotting that outside corner, moving the ball in and changing speeds with his breaking ball all day."
LOSING CONTROL
Mengden has issued 10 walks in his three June starts. He had only eight in his first 12 starts.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Athletics: 3B Matt Chapman (right thumb contusion) added throwing to his regimen, one day before his scheduled visit with a hand specialist in Los Angeles. Chapman's biggest hurdle remains swinging a bat. ... LHP Brett Anderson (strained left shoulder) is headed for Arizona to pitch in extended spring training.
UP NEXT
Angels: RHP Jaime Barria (5-2, 2.61 ERA) faces the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a two-game series Monday in Anaheim. Barria's ERA is the lowest among all rookies with at least 40 innings this season.
Athletics: RHP Paul Blackburn (1-1, 11.05 ERA) starts against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday to begin Oakland's 10-game road trip.