ANAHEIM, Calif. — Brandon Drury spent his first three weeks with the Angels in a fog. The veteran discovered his manner out of it proper when the lowly Oakland Athletics got here to Anaheim.
Drury homered, doubled and drove in three runs in his third straight monster sport, and Shohei Ohtani hit a late two-run homer in Los Angeles’ 11-3 victory Wednesday evening.
Drury had an RBI double within the second, and he hit a two-run homer within the fifth to place Los Angeles up 8-3. The well-traveled utility infielder began slowly together with his new group, batting .179 in his first 20 video games, however he’s 7 for 13 with three homers and 9 RBIs within the Halos’ first three video games in opposition to Oakland this week.
“Ball is a crazy game,” Drury mentioned. “You start thinking a little bit too much and trying a little bit too hard. It’s one of those games where you’ve just got to keep going, because you never know. You take that one swing or see that one pitch, and you remember, ‘That’s it. That’s what it was.’”
Drury mentioned he took that one swing on a homer in opposition to Oakland‘s Ken Waldichuk on Monday, and it helped him to reset his thoughts and his physique.
“It’s all feel for me,” Drury mentioned. “When I’m in there thinking about what I’m supposed to be doing, I’m really bad, as you saw the first three weeks. It’s as bad as it gets. And when I’m just in there trusting myself, being the dangerous hitter that I am, it’s a lot better. … For me, I’m good when I’m not thinking.”
PHOTOS: Drury, Ohtani lead Angels to 11-3 victory over skidding A’s
Hunter Renfroe additionally homered and Ohtani drove in three runs for Los Angeles, which has received 4 of six. Oakland grew to become the fifth group in main league historical past to lose 20 video games in April.
Drury, Matt Thaiss and Zach Neto all had run-scoring doubles within the Angels’ five-run second inning in opposition to Oakland‘s Luis Medina (0-1), who gave up seven earned runs and eight hits over 5 innings in his main league debut.
Patrick Sandoval (2-1) grew to become the one Angels starter aside from Ohtani to final seven innings in a sport this season, yielding six hits and two earned runs with a wealth of run assist.
“We raked one through nine,” Sandoval mentioned. “It’s awesome. It’s going to be fun this year.”
Kevin Smith hit his second homer of the sequence for the A’s, who’ve misplaced 11 of 13. The April file is 22 losses by the 1988 Baltimore Orioles, and Oakland nonetheless has 4 video games to play earlier than May.
Esteury Ruiz had two hits and drove in a run whereas stealing 4 bases for Oakland, turning into solely the third A’s participant to swipe that many baggage prior to now 30 years. He stole second base 3 times, and he stole third within the third inning as properly.
Medina is a former Yankees prospect acquired by Oakland final 12 months, and the 23-year-old right-hander from the Dominican Republic acquired the decision to the majors Tuesday after solely three Triple-A begins.
His fastball touched 99.9 mph in a clear first inning on the Big A, however the Angels batted round within the second. Thaiss had a two-run double amongst Los Angeles’ 5 hits.
Renfroe then led off the third together with his seventh homer in April, essentially the most in a single month in his profession.
Ohtani tacked on his sixth homer within the eighth inning.
Shintaro Fujinami pitched two innings of two-hit reduction for Oakland in his first look since being moved to the bullpen Monday.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: OF Ramón Laureano went to Las Vegas to start rehab for a strained left groin. Oakland hopes to have him again subsequent week.
Angels: A day after C Logan O’Hoppe had surgical procedure on the torn labrum in his left shoulder, the rookie mentioned he should put on a sling for 3 weeks. O’Hoppe nonetheless hopes to return late this season from an harm with an estimated restoration time of 4 to 6 months.
UP NEXT
Ohtani (3-0, 0.64 ERA) has the sixth outing of his spectacular pitching season whereas carrying a streak of 12 straight begins permitting two or fewer runs. Oakland finishes the sequence with JP Sears (0-1, 4.98) on the mound.
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