Mason Barnett Escapes Brink of Disaster to Earn First MLB Win Against Angels

After the Athletics grabbed a quick 2-0 lead over the Los Angeles Angels in the first inning, rookie right-hander Mason Barnett, making just his second start in the big leagues, struggled through a 35-pitch first inning.

He started things off by hitting Zach Neto, walking Mike Trout, and then giving up a single to Yoán Moncada to load the bases. He then walked Taylor Ward and Jo Adell to tie the game. The Angels had one hit, had sent five men to bat, and had tied the game. Luis Rengifo smacked an RBI single, followed by an Oswald Peraza sac-fly that gave them a two-run cushion.

A's manager Mark Kotsay said after the game that he was one batter away from not being able to finish the first. That batter was catcher Travis d'Arnaud, who grounded into an inning-ending double play. That earned Barnett more time on the mound, and he responded by striking out the side in order in the second.

All three of those strikeouts were swinging, with two coming on sweepers and the third on a curveball to Neto for the second out. That sweeper was one of his more effective pitches on Friday night in Anaheim. He threw a total of 26 of them, which elicited 12 swings.

Six of those swings were whiffs, good for a 50% whiff rate. Another five were called for strikes, five were fouled off, and just one was put into play.

In the top of the third, the A's hung seven on the Angels, largely against José Soriano. In three of his previous five outings, Soriano has not allowed a single run to cross the plate. In the other two outings, he's faced the Athletics and given up 13 runs in eight total innings. On Friday he went just 2 1/3 innings, gave up eight runs on six hits and five walks, and struck out four.

The big swing of the inning came off the bat of JJ Bleday, who swatted a three-run homer on a sinker up in the zone that made it 8-4. The Angels made a pitching change after that homer, and the A's immediately loaded the bases yet again with a Darell Hernaiz single (and stolen base), followed by walks from Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers.

Brent Rooker was hit by a pitch to bring in the seventh run of the inning, making it 9-4.

Lawrence Butler is heating up

The two clubs would largely trade zeroes the rest of the way, with the lone run coming on a solo homer from Lawrence Butler. This marks Butler's 19th homer of the season, leaving him one dinger and three steals shy of a 20-20 season.

Butler has also been heating up for the green and gold since the final game of the Detroit series in West Sacramento, going 13-for-31 (.419) with a pair of homers and five RBI. In that span he has raised his batting average 11 points to .238.

The A's would pick up the victory, 10-4, and Mason Barnett would be credited with the first win of his MLB career, finishing with a line of 5 IP, 3 hits, 4 ER, 5 BB, 8 K's. Considering that he needed 35 pitches to get through a tough first, this is a terrific performance from someone making just their second start in The Show.

The A's bullpen tossed the final four innings, and the only base runner they'd allow was on the hit-by-pitch from Justin Sterner to Mike Trout in the bottom of the seventh.

Every member of the A's starting lineup aside from Brent Rooker scored a run in this game, which is a testament to this offense getting contributions from everybody. While the A's have already lost the season series to the Halos, they can still add a couple of wins to their 3-8 record to make things a bit closer before the season wraps up.

The A's will be sending out J.T. Ginn (2-6, 5.17 ERA) on Saturday to take on Yusei Kikuchi (6-10, 3.83). The Athletics are also just 1.5 games behind the Angels for fourth in the AL West, so while neither is chasing a postseason berth, they're both trying to avoid finishing in last in the division.