OAKLAND, Calif. — The Angels turned the clock back to the 1970s with the way they used their pitchers on Sunday.
With the relievers they would normally use to close out a victory all unavailable because of their recent workload, Jimmy Herget took over for Patrick Sandoval and handled the final eight outs in the Angels 4-1 victory over the Oakland A’s.
Herget recorded his first save in his 57th career game, helping the Angels (24-13) take three of four in the series and move to 11 games over .500 for the first time since 2015.
Shohei Ohtani hit a first-inning two-run homer against Oakland ace Frankie Montas, and the Angels were still clinging to a 2-1 lead when Sandoval was pulled after a 101-pitch outing.
The Angels’ bullpen choices were limited because Raisel Iglesias, Ryan Tepera and Aaron Loup all pitched on Friday and Saturday, and Oliver Ortega threw 24 pitches over parts of three innings on Saturday.
Manager Joe Maddon summoned Herget in the seventh to face a pair of hitters who have traditionally fared well against the Angels. He retired Jed Lowrie and Ramon Laureano.
By the time Herget took the mound in the eighth, the Angels had an insurance run on an Anthony Rendon RBI. Herget gave up a leadoff double, but he retired the next three in a row.
In the ninth, the Angels had given him one more run on an Andrew Velazquez RBI double, but Herget didn’t need it. He pitched a scoreless inning.
That closed out the victory for Sandoval, who made it through 6-1/3 innings without his best stuff.
Sandoval’s changeup is his best pitch, and he hadn’t allowed a hit on it all season. However, he gave up two hits, walked a batter and hit a batter with his changeup. He ended up throwing it just 19% of the time, down from his previous rate of 27%.
Instead, he leaned heavily on his slider, throwing it 36 times in his 101 pitches. The A’s whiffed at 45% of their swings on his slider.
Sandoval allowed nine baserunners, but he was able to escape significant damage. He struck out Christian Bethancourt to leave the bases loaded in the first. In the second the first two hitters reached, but he allowed just one run on a groundout.
Sandoval struck out Sean Murphy on a slider to strand runners at second and third in the fifth. He then pitched a perfect sixth.
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