Lawrence Butler hit a home run, JP Sears earned his first win in over a month, and the Oakland Athletics shut out the Los Angeles Angels 5-0 on Thursday to complete a sweep of their three-game series.
Miguel Andujar and Brent Rooker hit consecutive RBI singles in the third inning, while Tyler Soderstrom added a sacrifice fly in that crucial frame on a hot Independence Day in the Bay Area, with an announced holiday crowd of 11,956.
Oakland’s pitchers effectively silenced an Angels lineup that had been scoring heavily in recent games.
“The offense we faced had scored five or more runs in (seven) straight games, they were playing well, and they came here with a lot of confidence after sweeping us in Anaheim,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay. “Our pitching staff did a fantastic job in this series, keeping their key hitters in check and not giving away free bases.”
Sears (5-7) struck out six batters, walked one, and allowed just two hits over five innings to end a streak of six winless starts since his last victory over Houston on May 25. The left-handed pitcher had lost his previous four decisions.
“It’s infectious, you just want to follow what the guy before you did,” Sears commented.
The Angels lost their fourth consecutive game after being shut out 5-0 on Wednesday. This marked their first back-to-back shutout losses since June 20-21, 2023, against the Dodgers at home.
The team now has a six-game losing streak at the Coliseum.
“It was a tough series overall,” said center fielder Kevin Pillar, who made several impressive catches and narrowly missed catching Butler’s eighth-inning home run. “We were playing strong baseball at home, had a day off, came here, and just didn’t have all the answers against these guys.”
