Shea Langeliers hit a three-run home run in the first inning as the Oakland Athletics continued their strong play with a 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night.
The A’s have now won three games in a row against the Angels and eight of their last 10 games. They have also won their last four series. In contrast, the Angels have lost three games in a row.
“It’s fun. Even when we weren’t on this winning streak we’re on it’s a good environment here,” starter Mitch Spence said. “Everybody is really friendly and we’re all really close. It’s a great clubhouse, no matter how we’re playing. We keep it light no matter what’s going on so we don’t get too high or too low. We’re playing great right now.”
Langeliers hit his 20th home run of the season, sending the ball 411 feet to center field. Oakland leads the majors in home runs for July with 41, and Langeliers has five of those.
“Obviously it was huge to put runs up in the top of the first and get momentum going on our side,” Langeliers said. “Kinda help us get in a rhythm.”
Spence (7-6) gave up just one run and three hits in six innings, with three strikeouts and two walks. Tyler Ferguson retired the Angels in order in the ninth inning to earn his second save.
The Angels’ Nolan Schanuel hit a solo home run to right field in the third inning for his 11th of the season. This was his second consecutive game with a homer.
Tyler Anderson (8-9) struck out 10 batters in seven innings. His only mistake was the home run by Langeliers in the first inning, which turned out to be costly. After that, Anderson did not allow a runner past second base for the rest of the game. He allowed six hits.
“Those guys are swinging the bats and for some reason we’ve gone cold,” manager Ron Washington said. “Their pitching staff has certainly shut us down. Our pitching staff hasn’t shut them down but they’ve kept us in the ballgame. We have to put runs on the board. The name of the game is scoring runs. We haven’t been scoring many runs against them.”
