The Oakland Athletics rode a fourth consecutive dominant pitching performance at home and a fourth home run by Khris Davis to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon.
The win gave Oakland three of four over its California rival in the opening series on American soil after the A's lost two straight to Seattle in Japan earlier in March.
Extending a streak of consecutive shutout innings by Oakland starters to 23 2/3 before giving up a home run to Kole Calhoun in the sixth inning, right-hander Frankie Montas (1-0) carried a 2-1 lead into the seventh before giving way to the A's bullpen.
Lou Trivino and Joakim Soria combined to retire six straight Angels before closer Blake Treinen, called upon again after going 1 2/3 innings on Saturday night, worked around a nine-pitch walk to Mike Trout in a scoreless ninth for his second save.
Oakland took a 2-0 lead into the sixth inning on the strength of Davis' solo homer in the fourth and a two-out RBI single by Matt Chapman in the fifth.
Davis' homer, his third of the four-game series, came leading off the fourth after Angels starter Tyler Skaggs (0-1) had taken a one-hit shutout into the inning.
The A's doubled their lead in the fifth despite having a leadoff single by Ramon Laureano erased by a double play.
Marcus Semien followed with a two-out double, ending Skaggs' day, before Chapman greeted reliever Ty Buttrey with his run-scoring single.
Skaggs was charged with two runs and five hits in his 4 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out two.
Making his first career start against the Angels, Montas retired 16 straight bridging the first and sixth innings before Calhoun took him deep with two outs in the sixth to cut the Oakland lead in half. The homer was Calhoun's first of the season.
Montas became the first Oakland starting pitcher to begin the seventh inning, but it lasted just one batter. He was pulled after Justin Bour led off the inning with a double.
The 26-year old gave up one run and three hits in his six-plus innings. He struck out six and did not walk a batter.
Trivino stranded Bour, retiring all three batters he faced.
Semien and Chapman finished with two hits apiece for the A's, who out-hit the Angels 7-3.
Calhoun complemented his home run with a double for the Angels, who totaled just 22 hits in the four season-opening games.
Calhoun had five of the hits, including two doubles and the homer.
--Field Level Media
LA Angels | Oakland | |
Tyler Skaggs | Player | Frankie Montas |
Loss | W/L | Win |
4.2 | IP | 6.0 |
2 | Strikeouts | 6 |
5 | Hits | 3 |
3.86 | ERA | 1.50 |
LA Angels | Oakland | |
Kole Calhoun | Player | Matt Chapman |
2 | Hits | 2 |
1 | RBI | 1 |
1 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 2 |
.500 | Avg | .667 |