Angels offense smashes and Matt Shoemaker gets his first win

Angels 8 Athletics 3

Wasting no time to show Oakland who the boss is - Zach Cozart led this game off with a triple and Mike Trout knocked him in with a double. That’s how you make a loud statement in Oakland on a Saturday afternoon.

Of course it was the only run that first inning, but who cares? Fun baseball stuff was happening and the Angels sent 5 total batters to the plate.

Matt Shoemaker had been stellar in his final two spring training starts and fortunately carried that over to his 2018 debut. Facing only 10 batters through the 3rd inning, Shoey was dealing and his slider and splitter were doing him a solid. Through the 5th inning, Shoemaker had held the A’s scoreless before faltering in the 6th and leaving the game with the bases loaded, 2 runs in, and 2 outs.

On the offensive front, Mike Trout, Zack Cozart, Rene Rivera, and Albert Pujols all had multiple hit games. Trout, in fact, had a pair of double and a single. Cozart had a double and a triple, while Pujols picked up a single and double himself. Rivera, filling in for a resting Maldanado - knocked a double and single.

Did I mention the first Angels stolen base of the year was from Mike Trout? And he stole third base? Of course he did. Trout also got on base after a strikeout - something you don’t see very often.

Luke Bard came in to close out the game in the 9th for his first ever major league appearance. Nice job dude!

Matt Shoemaker: 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 4 hits, 4 BB, 4K
Angels Offense: 12 hits, 8 runs, 7 extra base hits