Taylor Ward hit a grand slam to help the Angels come back from an early 6-0 deficit, and Los Angeles won 8-6 against the Oakland Athletics on Sunday, preventing a four-game sweep.
Ward’s grand slam in the fourth inning, hit into the Oakland bullpen in left field off Osvaldo Bido (2-2), was the fourth of his career and the fourth by an Angel this season. His last grand slam was on May 4, 2022, also against Oakland. He has 16 home runs this season.
“It’s one of the most amazing feelings in baseball, besides maybe hitting a walk-off grand slam,” Ward said.
Brent Rooker hit a bases-clearing double during a six-run third inning for the A’s, who had won eight of their last 10 games and had already won their fourth straight series.
Luis Garcia, who took over as Los Angeles’ closer after Carlos Estevez was traded to Philadelphia a day earlier, retired the side on nine pitches in the ninth inning to earn his fourth save.
Roansy Contreras (2-1) pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Bido walked Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel, and Luis Rengifo before Ward hit a home run with two outs, putting the Angels ahead 7-6 and ending Bido’s day. Bido allowed seven runs on six hits in 3 2/3 innings.
“We came out and swung the bats well in the third. Got a six-run lead,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “It was a long inning. Our starter sat for a while. Leadoff hit by Neto and he hits (Jo) Adell.
A similar game happened to us up in Oakland where you let them back into the game. Offensively, we couldn’t get anything more going the rest of the game. We were one strike away. We hung a slider to Ward and it changed the outcome of the game.”
Willie Calhoun had a two-run single that brought Los Angeles within 6-3 in the third inning.
