Brandon Drury and Shohei Ohtani each homered and drove in three runs to propel the Los Angeles Angels to an 11-3 victory over the Oakland A’s on Wednesday in Anaheim, Calif.
Hunter Renfroe also went deep for Los Angeles, his team-leading seventh of the season, in support of starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval, who gave up three runs (two earned) and six hits in seven innings.
Sandoval (2-1) made 105 pitches, struck out five and did not walk a batter. The strong outing came just one start after he walked a season-worst six batters on April 20 against the New York Yankees.
Drury was hitting just .179 before Oakland came to town on Monday, but in the first three games of the four-game series, he is 7-for-13 with three home runs and nine RBIs.
He drove in the Angels’ first run of the game with a double in the second inning, sparking a five-run outburst. Los Angeles also got a two-run double from Matt Thaiss and an RBI double from Zach Neto in the inning against A’s starter Luis Medina, who was making his major league debut.
Medina (0-1) went five innings, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits and three walks. He struck out six and made 93 pitches.
The A’s took a 1-0 lead in the first inning against Sandoval after Esteury Ruiz led off the game with an infield single. Ruiz stole second and took third on the catcher Thaiss’ throwing error, then scored on a groundout by Brent Rooker.
The Angels, though, got the run back, and then some, against Medina. Anthony Rendon and Renfroe singled to start the second inning, the Angels eventually scoring five in the frame on five hits and a walk.
Oakland got two hits apiece from Ruiz, Conner Capel and Kevin Smith, who homered to lead off the third inning, cutting the deficit to 5-2.
That would be as close as the A’s would get, as Renfroe hit a solo homer in the bottom of the third and Drury hit a two-run homer in the fifth. A single by Ohtani in the sixth resulted in a run on an error by the left fielder Rooker, allowing Mike Trout to score all the way from first.
Ohtani hit a two-run shot in the eighth, his sixth of the season.
–Field Level Media
