JP Sears threw five scoreless innings, Brent Rooker contributed an RBI single to a three-run third, and the Oakland Athletics completed a three-game sweep over the Los Angeles Angels with a 5-0 win on Thursday afternoon.
Miguel Andujar and Tyler Soderstrom also had run-scoring hits in the third inning for the A’s, who swept just their second series all season. They also made it back-to-back blankings after winning Wednesday’s game by the same score.
Sears (5-7) limited Los Angeles to two hits and a walk while striking out six.
Osvaldo Bido, Austin Adams, Lucas Erceg and Tyler Ferguson followed up with a scoreless inning apiece in the A’s seventh shutout of the season.
The back-to-back shutouts were the first for the A’s since July 29-30, 2021, also against the Angels, but that time on the road.
The Angels got only two hits against the Oakland bullpen, one coming when Nolan Schanuel ran his hitting streak to nine games with a single off Adams in the seventh. Logan O’Hoppe got their final hit, a single off Erceg in the eighth.
The A’s tacked on single runs in the sixth on a squeeze bunt by Max Schuemann and in the eighth on Lawrence Butler’s fourth home run of the season.
Angels starter Roansy Contreras (1-1) was pulled two outs into Oakland’s three-run third inning, charged with three runs (two earned) on three hits. He walked three, including Brett Harris and JJ Bleday to get the uprising rolling, and struck out one.
Rooker, who had homered in each of the first two games of the series, went 2-for-3 for the A’s, who also totaled only four hits.
–Field Level Media