This game was a blowout and it should’ve been a blowout. The problem is that it should’ve been a blowout for the other team. The Angels threatened often and early in this one, but really just didn’t cash in. That left the A’s firmly in the game and they didn’t miss their chance to open up the flood gates in the late innings. Maybe that is why they are in first and the Halos aren’t.
Run Expectancy Rundown
Without Mike Trout, the Angels needed someone to step up and Collin Cowgill was as close as they came. Cowgill blasted a three-run homer to account for all of the Angel runs. Kole Calhoun had a fine game as well, but wasn’t in a position to do much damage. The real killer was David Freese continuing to be inept in the middle of the lineup and Howie Kendrick hitting his first pop fly of the season with the bases loaded. He had just one last year, too, so this was incredibly bad timing.
Yoenis Cespedes did so, so much damage with the bat in this game, but he also killed the Angels with his arm, throwing out two runners at the plate in the same inning and preventing the Angels from getting a big inning going. Of course, Gary DiSarcina being a sub-standard third base coach helped a lot on that front.
Starting Pitcher Scores
Tyler Skaggs had some issues with the walk, but he was also racking up strikeouts. He was basically on cruise control until he suddenly became hittable in the seventh. That’s when bad things started to happen. On the flip side, Tommy Milone technically will get a quality start, but he was lucky to even still be in the game after four innings.
Bullpen Battle
Joe Smith came ever so close to getting out of the seventh with the game only tied, but after Cespedes smacked a triple over the head of that red-headed midget in right field, Smith just fell to pieces. Jarrett Grube finally got to make his MLB debut. It turned out not to be worth the wait.
Game Flow
Ugh, this is just depressing. A few early spikes where they had a chance to score some runs and failed, then they finally did and seemingly had the game in hand. Then the seventh inning happened. They started the inning at 80% and finished at 3%. So, yeah.
Halo A-Hole
When Joe Smith has a meltdown, he really melts down. Like, residents of Chernobyl even think he is taking it a bit far.
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