Halos depart Oakland searching for offense

OAKLAND -- The first series of the 2019 season is one the Angels would rather forget, as their offense struggled in four games against the A’s, including in the finale on Sunday that saw them record three hits in a 2-1 loss at the Coliseum.

The Angels scored just one run in 24 innings against A’s starters, and that lone run didn’t come until the sixth inning, when Kole Calhoun crushed a solo shot off right-hander Frankie Montas. Before that point, the Angels had yet to score against the combination of Mike Fiers, Marco Estrada, Brett Anderson and Montas. Calhoun admitted there is some collective frustration with the club’s lack of offense so far, but cautioned it’s way too early in the season to worry.

“It’s four games in,” Calhoun said. “You don’t want to go out and drop three of four to start the season. But if you’re asking if guys are panicking, I mean, it’d be nice for some guys to look up and have a couple of hits up there. It’s early. But when you look up and you don’t see what you want to see, guys press a little bit, and we just gotta relax and have fun. We’ll be all right.”

The offense was expected to be a strong point for the Angels this year, while the rotation was supposed to be Oakland’s weakness. But it wasn’t the case in the four-game series and now the Angels head to Seattle having lost three out of four. The Angels will have to win their next 12 games to match last year's pace, when they went 13-3 to open the season.

"I certainly credit their pitching,” Angels manager Brad Ausmus said. “There's no question about that. But I think we're just not hitting on all cylinders right now as an offense. Certainly, we'd like to have guys like [Justin] Upton in the lineup, but that's not the case. I just think we're not clicking right now offensively."

Calhoun, though, has been a bright spot, as he also opened the game with a double but was ultimately stranded there. Calhoun went 5-for-16 in the series, while the rest of the club combined for 17 hits, including four from Mike Trout.

"It’s been good, but we’re trying to win ballgames," Calhoun said of his early success. "It’s not individual in here at all. We need to get back on the winning track and be a happy clubhouse."

Calhoun said the club does miss Upton’s presence in the lineup, as he’ll be out for two to three months with turf toe, but they have to make do without him.

"That’s a huge player for us," Calhoun said. "To miss him for an extended amount of time is definitely going to be tough, but hopefully rehab goes well with him and he can come back healthy and feel good. Hopefully we can come out, play well, and when he gets back, it’ll be like he never left."

Skaggs solid but inefficient

Lefty Tyler Skaggs cruised early, retiring the first eight batters he faced before running into trouble in the third, loading the bases with two outs. He got out of the jam but threw 33 pitches in the inning.

He was hurt by a fourth-inning solo homer from Khris Davis (his third home run of the series), who is tied for the Major League lead with four on the year. Skaggs left after allowing a two-out double in the fifth on his 86th pitch of the afternoon, as the Angels wanted to be cautious with him after not getting fully stretched out in Spring Training.

“I felt pretty good,” Skaggs said. “Mechanics-wise, not my greatest. I was feeling for certain pitches, but it makes you a better pitcher in the long run when you know your stuff is not that good and you can still go out and compete.”

Reliever Ty Buttrey came in and gave up an RBI single to Matt Chapman to give the A’s a two-run lead that proved pivotal with the Angels’ offense failing to mount a late comeback. But the Angels’ bullpen otherwise held the A’s scoreless, and their relievers have yet to surrender a run in 12 2/3 innings this season.