Angels stun A's on bookend HRs by Ohtani, J-Up

ANAHEIM -- The Angels focused on improving their offense this offseason, re-signing Justin Upton, landing Shohei Ohtani and adding Zack Cozart and Ian Kinsler. On Friday night, the club's revamped lineup showed exactly how unrelenting it can be.
Upton's three-run homer off Blake Treinen capped a wild five-run seventh inning that sent the Angels a 13-9 win after trailing the A's by six runs in their series opener at Angel Stadium.
"We've got a lot of guys here who have seen a lot of baseball, played a lot of baseball, and we know if we can keep putting together good at-bats, we can put up runs," Upton said. "That's what we'll continue to do."
The A's built a 6-0 lead by launching three home runs off Parker Bridwell, who lasted just 1 2/3 innings, but the Angels (6-2) clawed back as the game wore on. Ohtani's third home run in as many games put the Halos on the board in the second inning, and Luis Valbuena's two-run single keyed a four-run fourth.
• Ohtani homers in third straight, helps Halos rally

The A's took a 9-7 lead into the bottom of the seventh after Matt Olson launched the club's fifth home run of the night, but the Angels immediately threatened again. Andrelton Simmons led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on a double by Jefry Marte. The Angels seemed snakebitten after lacing two balls off reliever Ryan Buchter -- a 110-mph groundout to first from Ohtani and an 104-mph lineout to third from Martín Maldonado -- only to see two outs recorded without a runner moving.
A's manager Bob Melvin then brought in Treinen to face Cozart, who chopped a slow grounder to third base. Matt Chapman fielded the ball, but he short-hopped his throw to first base, allowing a pair of runs to score to tie the game at 9.

"You've got to try really hard to keep this lineup quiet," said Simmons, who went 3-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to eight games. "Give us any room and we can bounce back. They scored a couple runs, but we kept coming at them. Kept putting together good at-bats, kept threatening and putting pressure on them."
Treinen intentionally walked Mike Trout to bring up Upton, who launched a 3-2 sinker off the out-of-town scoreboard in right-center field to give the Angels their first lead of the night. It was Upton's second home run of the season.

The A's and Angels combined for 27 hits and deployed 14 pitchers to cover a combined 12 innings after Bridwell and A's starter Daniel Gossett were knocked out of the game early.
"Those guys just kept playing baseball," manager Mike Scioscia said. "We're not going to come back very often in games like that, but you certainly want to give yourself a chance."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Ohtani ignites rally: Ohtani put the Angels on the board in the second inning after launching a home run off Gossett to cut Oakland's lead to 6-1. Ohtani's third home run of the season flew off his bat at 112.4 mph and traveled an estimated 449 feet, according to Statcast™. Ohtani, who finished 1-for-4 with two RBIs in his fourth start as the designated hitter, is the first Angels rookie to homer in each of his first three home games.
"Anytime you go down six and you get one of them back pretty quick, that deficit starts to get smaller and smaller," Upton said. "He kind of started it. It was great for us to get that one back."

Angels chase Gossett: Down 6-1, the Angels began the fourth with four straight hits -- singles by Albert Pujols and Kole Calhoun, an RBI ground-rule double by Simmons and a two-run single by Valbuena -- to cut the deficit to 6-4. Gossett retired Ohtani on a broken-bat flyout before he was replaced by A's reliever Yusmeiro Petit, who gave up an RBI single to Maldonado that made it 6-5.

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In three career starts against the A's, Bridwell has allowed 19 runs over 7 2/3 innings (22.30 ERA).
"It's just one of those things where I think they caught me on the right day every time," said Bridwell, who started Friday in place of the injured Matt Shoemaker. "Baseball is hard, in general, and when you come in and you face the same teams over and over again, it's going to get a little more difficult. Regardless of the circumstance, I've got to be a lot better than that."
WHAT'S NEXT
JC Ramirez will start Saturday as the Angels play the middle game of their three-game series against the A's at 6:07 p.m. PT at Angel Stadium. Ramirez will look to rebound from his rough season debut, when he allowed five runs (four earned) over 4 2/3 innings in Monday's loss to the Indians. He has a 2.95 ERA over 18 1/3 innings in 10 career appearances against the A's, including one start.
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