Angels rally past A's to snap 3-game skid after a painful afternoon

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on Sep 7, 2025

Published in Baseball

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Angels were beaten up, but not beaten on Sunday.

The Angels were hit by pitches a franchise record five times and catcher Logan O’Hoppe came out of the game after being hit under his mask by a careless practice swing in their 4-3 victory over the Athletics.

Travis d’Arnaud, who entered the game at catcher after O’Hoppe had to leave, had the go-ahead hit, an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth. Just before that, the Angels had two batters hit by pitches.

“I think more motivating, because they hit five of our guys today and didn’t seem like they cared,” d’Arnaud said. “They kept throwing inside, so motivated to get the job done.”

D’Arnaud and the rest of his teammates were also hoping to hear good news on O’Hoppe, who was taken for concussion testing after the game.

“He seems to be OK right now,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “We’ll see what happens … They’ve got to go through the whole (concussion) protocol. Gotta make sure. Be really careful with that stuff.”

A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson was wagging his bat as he prepared to hit in the seventh inning, and somehow the bat caught O’Hoppe under his mask. O’Hoppe crumpled to the ground and received medical attention for a few minutes before he left the game.

The Angels also played the ninth inning without Jo Adell, who Montgomery said was feeling nauseous. Adell hit his 35th homer of the season to put the Angels up in the first inning.

Adell’s homer and a Bryce Teodosio RBI double in the fourth put the Angels up 3-1. Starter Mitch Farris didn’t get the victory because left-hander Reid Detmers gave up a run in the top of the eighth, as the A’s tied the game just before the Angels got that run back in the bottom of the inning.

Closer Kenley Jansen then worked the ninth as the Angels (67-76) snapped a three-game losing streak.

Aside from all the dings the Angels suffered, the story of the game was Farris, a 24-year-old who has now allowed three runs in 11 innings in his first two big league starts.

“It’s an honor to have this opportunity,” Farris said. “Just trying to make the most out of it right now and build on what I’ve been doing. Keep doing what I’ve been doing.”

Farris, who was acquired from the Atlanta Braves in December, came straight from Double-A to make his big league debut last week. In his first game, he gave up one run in five innings against the Kansas City Royals.

This time, he faced a much more dangerous lineup and in a better hitting environment. A day game at Angel Stadium is more hitter-friendly than a night game at spacious Kaufmann Stadium.

“The first (start) carries a lot of emotion, and it carries a lot of energy, and sometimes the second one can dip down,” Montgomery said. “You could argue he was better today.”

Farris only gave up three hits, including solo homers from Willie MacIver in the third and Tyler Soderstrom leading off the seventh.

In between the homers, Farris retired 11 of 12 hitters.

Farris’ best pitch is his changeup, but he demonstrated on Sunday that he can also use the pitch to set up his fastball. The A’s whiffed on 26% of their swings at his fastball, which averaged only 90 mph. The major league average whiff rate on four-seam fastballs at 92 mph or slower is 17%.

“There’s velocity, as the board says, and then there’s effective velocity, how it works with the stuff and the package,” Montgomery said. “There’s been many guys that have that kind of fastball that play off different stuff and they are able to make it play up. You can see some of the swings too, not just the swing and misses, but the later swings, the jam swings. So it’s clearly hard for them to see it. And then you play it off the change and the slider, and you throw it into the zone, like he did, and he located pretty well most of the game.”

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