Angels equal MLB record with seven solo homers but still suffer historic losses

ANAHEIM, California — In a season that has turned into a titanic battle for the Los Angeles Angels, they suffered another painful defeat Thursday.

The Halos hit a major league record with seven solo homers, including two by Shohei Ohtani, but still lost 8-7 to the Oakland Athletics in a mad matinee affair at Angel Stadium.

The Angels become the first team in the majors to hit seven solo homers and not hit any additional runs in a game. They are also the sixth team to hit seven homers and lose, according to STATS.

“I think they always say solo homers don’t beat you, but you feel like if you hit seven you could. It didn’t work out for us,” said Phil Nevin, interim manager of the Angels.

Los Angeles was 24-13 and tied with Houston for the AL West lead after beating Oakland on May 15. Since then, the Angels have gone 20-48 and are a season low of 17 games under .500 at 44-61.

Tailspins included a 14-game losing streak, the firing of Joe Maddon on June 7, annihilating a four-run eighth-inning lead in Philadelphia on June 5, and a wild brawl against the Seattle Mariners on June 26.

Ramon Laureano homed and drove in four carries, and Seth Brown had a two-carry shot during a six-carry third inning for AL-Worst Oakland. Sean Murphy also drove in two heats for the Athletics, who won the last two games of the series and won six of their last nine.

“Today was a slightly different baseball game than I probably attended. It’s a very interesting box score,” said Oakland manager Mark Kotsay. “I’m glad our eight held and we were able to win.

“The goal is to win the game and get more runs. Solo home runs at the end of the day are nice, but they don’t always help you win games.”

Paul Blackburn (7-6) clinched his first win since June 16 despite giving up four home runs in six hits.

“It was one of those days where every ball that hit the air looked like it was going wide,” said Blackburn, who played five innings and struck out three. “I’ve never seen anything like it, but I’ll have a series win every day.”

Ohtani left the game Wednesday night with a left forearm cramp, but he recovered with three hits and two RBIs. It was his 11th multihomer game in the majors and fifth of the season.

Mickey Moniak – acquired from Philadelphia in Tuesday’s Noah Syndergaard trade – homered to the right with an out in the ninth to set the Angels on a run. Max Stassi pulled a walk but Taylor Ward hit and AJ Puk made Ohtani fly short in first place for his third save.

Kurt Suzuki, Taylor Ward, Jo Adell and Jared Walsh also went deep for the Angels, who went 2-5 on their homestand. The seven homers also tied an overall franchise record.

“Obviously that’s a positive thing. I would have liked to win, but you know, offensively we had to catch up a bit. So that was a positive sign,” Ward said, referring to the Angels’ .199 hit as a team in July.

The Los Angeles Dodgers were the last team to hit seven solo homers against the New York Mets on June 24, 2018.

Los Angeles led 2-0 after two innings with shots from Ohtani and Suzuki before Oakland broke up against Halos starter Janson Junk (1-1) in the third.

The Athletics sent 11 to the plate in the inning and scored six runs. Laureano equalized with a one-out double with loaded bases at 2 before Murphy’s double into the left-center gap gave her the lead. Brown then chased junk by driving a first-pitch curveball into the raised right-center seats to make it 6-2.

Junk pitched five scoreless innings in his last start on July 27 in Kansas City. The right-hander didn’t have the same success this time, with six allowed runs from five hits and two strikeouts.

“I think everyone started to focus on what they wanted to do in their zone. He threw a lot of balls and this team threw a lot of balls this series,” Brown said. “It was anyone who latched on to the pitch they wanted.”

Laureano extended Oakland’s lead to 8-3 in the fourth when he connected with an elevated Touki Toussaint sinker for a two-run homer to center.

Walsh went deep in the sixth and Ohtani in the seventh to make it 8-6.

ONE AFTER THE OTHER

Solo shots by Ward and Adell in the third and fourth innings made it only the second time in franchise history that the Angels have homed in each of the first four innings. The last time it happened was on August 19, 2017 in Baltimore when Mike Trout went deep in first and third and Luis Valbuena in second and fourth.

It is the third time it has made an appearance at the majors this season. The Los Angeles Dodgers did so on May 24 in Washington and the Minnesota Twins did so against Seattle on April 10.

TRAINING ROOM

Angels: Forelle (left chest infection) started rotation on Wednesday. There is no update on when he will be swinging a racquet again. …P Griffin Canning (lower back stress reaction) has not started pitching and has been disqualified from pitching this season.

NEXT

Athletics: Have a rare Friday off before hosting San Francisco in a two-game weekend series. RHP Adam Oller (1-4, 7.68 ERA) provides the opener of Saturday’s Bay Bridge Series.

Angels: Out for seven games. LHP Patrick Sandoval (3-7, 3.61 ERA) gets the call Friday night in Seattle.