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 With their seventh consecutive win, an 8-1 victory over the Oakland
A's, the Angels moved past the Houston Astros in the race for the
second American League wild card.
Los Angeles remains two games behind first-place Texas in the AL
West, as the Rangers also won Tuesday. The Astros lost to the
Seattle Mariners, allowing the Angels to move one-half game ahead of
Houston in the wild-card race. The New York Yankees hold a
three-game edge on the Angels for the first AL wild card.
On Monday night, Pujols hit his 38th home run of the season, a
possible sign he is breaking out of a prolonged slump -- he entered
that game hitting .174 in September. On Tuesday, he sparked a
pivotal four-run fourth inning with his baserunning.
Relegated to designated hitter duty the rest of the season because
of a sore foot and chronically sore knees, Pujols led off with an
infield single. When Oakland pitcher Chris Bassitt didn't pay
attention to him, Pujols stole second without a throw, his fifth
stolen base of the season.
Pujols went to third on a groundout and scored on a single by third
baseman David Freese before the Angels opened it up for three more
runs in the inning.
Later in the game Pujols scored from second on a single to right
field. By the time the night was over, Pujols had three hits, three
runs and an RBI.
"He's moving well," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He got down
the line well, stole a base, scored from second on a base hit to
(A's right fielder) Josh Reddick, which is not an easy thing to do.
Albert's a really intelligent baserunner, and now that he's moving a
little bit better, he can create some things on the basepaths."
In all, the Angels had 14 hits, including two each from shortstop
Erick Aybar, left fielder David Murphy, Freese and second baseman
Johnny Giavotella. The resurgent Los Angeles offense scored seven of
its eight runs with two outs.
It was more than enough for Tropeano, who was filling in for an
injured Matt Shoemaker and pitched the best game of his young
career. He struck out a career-high 11 in 6 2/3 innings to get the
win.
Tropeano (3-2) gave up only three hits, Oakland scoring its only run
against him on a solo homer by first baseman Max Muncy in the fifth
inning.
"It's definitely the best outing we've seen from Nick," Scioscia
said. "Early on, he had good command of his fastball and was ahead
in most counts, got into good counts where he could use his
secondary pitches. He used all his stuff. It's the best command
we've seen him have."
Tropeano, though, was quick to deflect praise.
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"It's all on the offense," he said. "Them getting me that cushion
early just gave me the confidence and ability to attack hitters. I
used both sides of the plate with my fastball, and it just made my
off-speed (pitches) that much better."
Outside of Muncy's homer, the A's got a runner as far as second base
only two times in the game.
"We knew he'd throw his changeup and slider in off-counts, and he
did," A's manager Bob Melvin said of Tropeano. "Kept us off balance
and had a little more velocity on his heater than we probably
expected. But I think it was just mixing pitches, and he had a real
good slider tonight."
Bassitt allowed a couple of two-out runs in the first inning and
never seemed to recover, giving up six runs on eight hits and in 3
2/3 innings.
"You know what, his stuff was good, but his command wasn't good,"
Melvin said. "He's still a little rusty on where's he's throwing the
ball, but you look up and I saw 97 (mph), 96, 95, and there was good
movement to it. Maybe not his best breaking stuff, but I think he's
still working himself back as far as command goes."
NOTES: Angels RHP Joe Smith, out since spraining his left ankle
going down stairs at the team hotel in Minnesota on Sept. 19, threw
a bullpen session and did fielding drills. He is expected to be
ready to pitch Wednesday. ... The A's hired Justine Siegal to be a
guest instructor for their Instructional League team in Arizona from
Oct. 4-17. Siegal became the first woman to coach men's baseball
professionally in 2009, when she served as first base coach for the
Brockton Rox, an independent team. ... The Angels' 11 walk-off wins
are the most in the American League and the most for the franchise
since 1997 (12). ... The A's are 7-19 in September, the worst in the
majors and worst by an Oakland team since the 1978 club went 7-20.
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