Yusei Kikuchi gives up one hit in victory over the Athletics

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- After being brilliant on the mound in his last seven starts, Yusei Kikuchi continued to dominate Monday night against the Athletics.

Kikuchi pitched 7 ⅓ shutout innings for the Angels with five strikeouts while giving up one hit and one walk in a 7-4 victory.

"I think I was attacking the zone really well today. As you can see I only gave up one walk today," Kikuchi said through an interpreter. "Just going in there with the mentality of just pounding the zone. I think that really helped today."

The A's (26-42) hitters were guessing all night long as Kikuchi went 4 ⅓ innings without giving up a hit.

The fifth inning was the only time he faced any adversity after Max Muncy delivered the first hit for the Athletics tonight. Kikuchi went on to strike out Nick Kurtz in the next at-bat, but then gave up a walk to Luis Urías.

With two outs, already on the board, pitching coach Barry Enright came out for a mound visit to talk about how they would get the next batter out.

Kikuchi needed just one pitch to put away the A's, by throwing a curveball to get Willie Maclver to ground out.

Keeping the ball on the dirt, was a key part of tonight's formula for success against the A's as Kikuchi forced 11 groundouts against the A's. Five of them came from his curveball.

"Travis (d'Arnaud) is really prepared and he really studies the other hitters over there so I just trusted his lead." Kikuchi said.

His slider was his go-to pitch for strikeouts by getting four batters to strike out, including a 10 pitch at-bat against Kurtz for the final batter he faced.

"We was going batter for batter and since Kurts battle ready on the 10-pitch at-bat that was enough."

The battle with Kurtz put Kikuchi at 104 pitches to end his night. Kikuchi now has a below 3 ERA and has a 1.05 ERA at home this season.

The Angels (31-34) offense gave Kikuchi his four-run cushion in the third and fourth innings tonight. He would've had a one run lead after the first inning but Denzel Clarke had other plans, making a potential catch of the year play, robbing Nolan Schanuel of a home run.

Schanuel hit a splitter to the centerfield wall at 102 MPH for 398 feet. Clarke was rushing back, waiting to make a play. Climbing up the centerfield wall, he extended the top half of his body over the wall to make one of the greatest baseball catches of all time.

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"First I thought I got it. So I hit one of those courtesy jogs," Schanuel said. "I see him climb up the wall and i'm like 'Alright maybe he's just doing it.' You know a lot of guys... And then I see him come back. Go down the wall. See the balls as he's breathing come back up and him celebrating with the ball in his glove."

"My heart dropped. He's a crazy athlete."

The Angels' offense would strike back in the third and fourth innings.

In the third, Scott Kingery singled on a bunt but would advance to second after a throwing error. In the next at bat, the A's gave up another error setting the stage for the top of the lineup with one out.

Zach Neto, Schanuel, and Mike Trout all delivered RBI singles to give the Angels a quick 3-0 lead. That lead extended in the fourth inning after Jo Adell blasted a solo homer over the left field wall. It was Adell's third homer in three days.

"I think the biggest thing too is just the fact that nobody's trying to be the hero," Adell said. "Guys are going out there and doing what their game is. We got guys in the lineup that are gonna work counts and get walks and do those types of things."

Once Kikuchi exited the game, the Angels quickly ran into trouble.

Connor Brogdon came in the game to relieve Kikuchi of his day.

But Brogdon did anything but relieve him.

Luis Urías got things started for the A's, hitting a single towards center. In the next at bat, JJ Bleday came in to pinch hit and hit a solo home run towards center. 

Adell attempted to do his best impersonation of Clarke in the first inning, but the ball just popped out of his glove, cutting the Angels' lead by two.

"It was timed everything was great on it," Adell said. "A little bit of the whiplash from the wall as I hit that kind of what's got me a little bit."

After Bleday's homer, Seth Brown drew a walk against Brogdon.

Ryan Zeferjahn came in to replace Brogdon and contained the fire by ending the inning without giving up another run.

The Angels answered back in the bottom half of the inning by securing Kikuchi's victory tonight by scoring three runs.

The first run was from a sacrifice fly hit by Mike Trout, scoring Zach Neto. The next two came with the bases loaded and Adell up in the batter's box.

Adell laid out a grounder in a gap between first and second into the outfield, scoring Schanuel and Travis d'Arnaud.

The A's scored two more runs in the ninth from a homer by Muncy. Shaun Anderson was replaced by Kenley Jansen with two outs in the inning. Jansen finished the game by getting Urias to ground out after three pitches. Jansen was not awarded a save.