Pillar brings Washington 'joy' with key hit, game ball

OAKLAND -- The Angels had their share of good moments at the Coliseum, including clinching American League West titles there in 2004 and ‘05, but it was ultimately a tough place for them to play over the years -- especially in recent seasons.

Playing their final scheduled regular-season game at the venue on Sunday, the Angels finished on a positive note with an 8-5 win over the A’s to also become the first expansion team to reach 5,000 wins as a franchise.

It snapped an eight-game losing streak in Oakland, which topped their previous worst of losing seven in a row there from June 1-24, 1968, and April 26, 1991-April 20, 1992. The Angels went 193-260 at the Coliseum since the A’s moved there in 1968, with their .426 winning percentage at the ballpark ranking 11th out of the 15 current AL clubs.

Angels manager Ron Washington, who served as a coach with the A’s from 1996-2006 and again from 2015-16, said before the game that all he wanted was a win in his final game at the ballpark.

Thankfully for Washington, his club was able to deliver it with a late comeback against the A’s, rallying for five runs in the eighth inning. Kevin Pillar was the hero, providing the go-ahead two-run double in the eighth, and after he caught the last out in the ninth in center field, he gave the ball to Washington as a keepsake.

"I'm gonna miss this place, but I'm glad I got a victory here,” Washington said. "When he gave me the ball, it was a great surprise and brought me joy. I wrote on it that it was the last out of the last game I managed at the Coliseum. It was heartfelt."

Washington had plenty of positive memories of the stadium during his long tenure with the A’s and was sad to hear that they are moving to Sacramento next year to play there for three seasons with a plan to eventually move to Las Vegas in 2028.

"I'm going to certainly miss it,” Washington reiterated. "As a guy who had been a coach here, as a guy that watched a lot of young players grow here, and now as a guy that came back and managed here ... the crowd is still the same. The people here still love the Oakland A's. It's just a sad thing that things are about to change. But in life, there are changes."

The Angels appeared headed toward a three-game sweep at the hands of the A’s before the offense finally woke up in the eighth, loading the bases with nobody out against reliever Lucas Erceg. Jo Adell worked an eight-pitch walk to bring home a run and the A’s turned to veteran lefty Scott Alexander.

But the Angels scored two more runs thanks to some hustle from pinch-hitter Nolan Schanuel and Anthony Rendon. Schanuel, who left Saturday’s game with a left calf cramp, beat out a grounder to short for an RBI infield single, while Rendon beat out a potential double-play grounder to plate another run.

"They made my job a little easier,” Pillar said. “If Rendon doesn’t run down the line and there are two outs, it changes my job. I have to get a hit with two outs. But by beating it out, I was just trying to lift something in the air and sometimes when you simplify things like that, it leads to base hits."

The hustle plays set the stage for Pillar to come through with a two-run double off the left-field wall. It was another big hit for Pillar, one of the club’s most clutch players since being signed on April 30 after superstar Mike Trout underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. He’s hit .378 (17-for-45) with two homers, four doubles and 23 RBIs with runners in scoring position since joining the Angels.

He said he understood how much the win meant to his manager, which is why he gave him the ball from the final out. Adell was the first to suggest it and Pillar figured it would be a nice gesture.

"In the moment, you don't maybe understand the magnitude of the moment, but when I caught the last out Jo was like, 'That's a good ball to keep,'” Pillar said. “So I decided to give the ball to Wash because he was a big part of the fabric of this place and Oakland baseball. For him to leave with the game ball and win the last game here probably meant a lot to him."