A Tale of Two Games, novel started by Félix Peña, finished by Dustin Garneau

Angels 10, A’s 9

It was the best of games, it was the worst of games, it was the age of wise Ausmus decisions, it was the age of foolish, it was the epoch of belief in victory, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of the Lit Halo, it was the season of the Dark Sky, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had Trout and Ohtani before us, we had Allen and Cahill and Harvey and Lucroy and Bour and Cozart and Bourjos before us, we were going direct to the World Series, we were going direct the other way.

**The above was definitely written about the Los Angeles Angels.

Across baseball, there was definitely a blend of old-school and new-school as well. With the two openers going head-to-head in this game, history was made. On the other hand, all across baseball, three starters threw complete games tonight. They set the stage for the game to come. And what a game it was.

Other than Cam Bedrosian pitching a scoreless inning and Tommy La Stella (All-Star, circa 2019), the early part of the game was completely owned by Oakland.

They tattooed Félix Peña for four runs in the second inning and three in the third, chasing him far too early. Yes, Peña was struggling, but with a seven-man bullpen, one of whom, Luis Garcia, was probably unavailable, BBB needed to squeeze all possible outs from Peña. It didn’t matter. He went 1.2 innings.

So here I am, driving home from dinner, and the score is 7-1 A’s. A lost cause? Not so fast, says Mikohei Troutani. We still have chapters to write.

Boom.

And boom!

The Angels were up, with a lot of bullpen innings to go. Noe Ramirez pitched 2.1 good innings, throwing 35 pitches. Justin Anderson went one shaky one. Ty Buttrey worked his tail off, throwing twenty gazillion pitches (read: 43) before allowing the tying run. Hansel Robles tried to slam the door, but this happened.

Just Jonathan Lucroy being Lucroy.

Although, Lucroy did spark a rally in the 8th inning, and he was lifted for pinch runner Taylor Ward.

Ward nearly got caught out on the bases when he failed to retouch second base, but the umpire didn’t see it and the A’s didn’t challenge. With first and second and two outs, A’s manager Bob Melvin decided to IBB Mike Trout, bringing in lefty Ryan Buchter to face Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani was calm as a cucumber, drawing a walk, and the Angels were tied.

No matter. With Lucroy out, the win was secured.

In the bottom of the ninth, Brian Goodwin singled and stole second. Dustin Garneau lifted a fly ball into the deep trenches of left field, and Robbie Grossman (who has been killing us all year) did his best Justin Upton impression, and the Angels were walking off winners.

Why not add another record for good measure?

Gritty. Hard. And earned. Light that baby up!