Carlos Cortes and Zack Gelof power Athletics past Angels after six-run deficit

The Angels built it early, but never quite buried it

Los Angeles did more than enough at the plate to seize control. Denzer Guzman opened the scoring in the first by bringing home Mike Trout on a groundout, then the Angels landed their biggest punch in the third. Vaughn Grissom singled in Zach Neto, and two batters later Guzman drove a 399-foot homer to left-center that scored Trout and Grissom for a 5-0 lead. When Grissom added another RBI single in the sixth, the Angels were up 6-0 and appeared positioned to turn a loud offensive night into a comfortable one.

The individual lines backed up that early advantage. Trout finished 3-for-4 with two runs, Grissom went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and Guzman produced four RBIs despite only one hit because that one hit changed the board. The Angels collected 15 hits and five walks overall, and they forced Athletics starter Brady Basso out after two innings and 52 pitches. That should have been a winning formula. It became a warning instead, because the game had already shown how many chances Los Angeles was creating without fully cashing them in.

A two-run sixth changed the conversation

The Athletics' comeback did not begin with a single dramatic swing. It started with one clean extra-base hit and one messy defensive sequence. Lawrence Butler tripled to center to score Shea Langeliers in the sixth, putting Oakland on the board. Then Jeff McNeil hit a fielder's choice to first that brought Butler home on a throwing error by Grissom, while Zack Gelof reached second on the play. A 6-0 game had become 6-2, and that distinction mattered because the Angels had already spent a lot of offense to build the lead.

Yusei Kikuchi's line still reads like a respectable start on a difficult night for pitching: 5 1/3 innings, seven hits, two runs, one walk and two strikeouts. But once the game moved beyond him, the Angels lost their grip quickly. Oakland had managed only two runs through six innings, yet it had also struck out just three times all night. That steady contact became more dangerous as the game tightened.

Cortes cracked it open, Gelof finished the swing

The seventh inning was where the deficit truly disappeared. Carlos Cortes tripled to right to score Alika Williams, Langeliers followed with a single that scored Cortes, and McNeil then drew a walk that forced in Henry Bolte. In one inning, the Athletics erased the entire six-run gap and turned a chase into a tie. That rally landed hardest on Jose Fermin, who failed to record an out while allowing three hits, three runs and a walk.

Oakland then took the game with power in the eighth. Cortes came up again and hammered a two-run homer to right-center, scoring Williams for a 7-6 lead. Gelof followed later with a two-run shot to left that also brought home Butler, stretching the margin to 9-6. Those two swings defined the night because they transformed a comeback into control. The Angels did scratch back a run in the ninth when Christian Moore reached on an infield single that scored Jose Siri, but by then the Athletics had already authored the game's lasting turn.

Our take: this one will bother the Angels more than the Athletics will celebrate it

Our take: when a club scores seven runs, posts 15 hits, gets Trout on base four times and receives four RBIs from Guzman, the offense is not supposed to be the headline in a loss. The problem for the Angels is that all that production still came with visible waste. They left 24 runners on base and grounded into three double plays, which meant long stretches of traffic without separation. On the pitching side, the late innings were harsher still: the staff recorded only three strikeouts across eight innings, and Oakland turned that contact into 14 hits and seven extra-base knocks. If Los Angeles is looking for the cleanest lesson from this game, it is that an explosive start still needs either sharper finishing at the plate or more late-inning resistance on the mound.

Our take: the Athletics deserve credit not simply for rallying, but for rallying in different ways. They trimmed the lead with Butler's triple and an Angels error, tied it with sequence hitting and a bases-loaded walk, then won it with home-run power from Cortes and Gelof. Just as important, the relief group kept the game from getting away after Basso's rough opening. Scott Blewett, Seth Johnson, Drew Rom, Luis Medina and Hogan Harris covered the final seven innings and allowed only two runs, which gave Oakland time to let its bats catch up. The caution for the Athletics is easy to see too: spotting an opponent five runs by the third inning is usually a losing habit. On this night, though, their lineup was good enough to erase it anyway.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Guzman grounded out to shortstop, Trout scored, Grissom to third.

2. 3rd Inning

   Grissom singled to left, Neto scored, Trout to second.

3. 3rd Inning

   Guzman homered to left center (399 feet), Trout scored and Grissom scored.

4. 6th Inning

   Grissom singled to left, Neto scored.

5. 6th Inning

   Butler tripled to center, Langeliers scored.

6. 6th Inning

   McNeil grounded into fielder's choice to first, Butler scored on error, Gelof safe at second on throwing error by first baseman Grissom.

7. 7th Inning

   Cortes tripled to right, Williams scored.

8. 7th Inning

   Langeliers singled to left, Cortes scored, Bolte to second.

9. 7th Inning

   McNeil walked, Bolte scored, Gelof to second, Langeliers to third.

10. 8th Inning

    Cortes homered to right center (386 feet), Williams scored.

11. 8th Inning

    Gelof homered to left (411 feet), Butler scored.

12. 9th Inning

    Moore reached on infield single to shortstop, Siri scored, Meckler to second.