Leftwich Not the Answer as Witt Throttles Angels

The last time Bobby Witt took the mound, he came a half-step short of becoming one of baseball’s dazzling dozen, losing what might have been the 12th perfect game in major league history in the sixth inning when Kansas City’s Greg Gagne bunted and was called safe at first even though Witt apparently beat him to the bag.

There was no drama, no controversy Tuesday night at the Oakland Coliseum, just another sparkling performance by Witt, a 3-0 victory by the streaking A’s and another loss by the Angels. Witt held the Angels to a pair of Tim Salmon singles en route to a complete-game victory before 14,525.

Thursday night, the 30-year-old right-hander struck out 14 Royals and faced only 28 batters during the first one-hitter of his career. Against the Angels, he struck out only five and walked two, but for a guy whose earned-run average was 6.89 three weeks ago, even a victory over the Angels is reason to celebrate.

“I didn’t think I was as focused as the other night,” Witt said. “To be honest, I was a little jittery. They’ve got some hitters who can hurt you if you make a mistake and that team has always been tough on me.”

The A’s have won 14 of the last 18 games. The Angels have lost four of the last six. And Witt has two more wins in the last week than all the Angel starting pitchers combined. Witt has allowed just 24 hits in the last 37 2/3 innings while striking out 32 and walking just nine.

“Sometimes something happens where you get in a groove and you just feel confident every time you go out there,” Witt said. “I don’t really know how you describe it.”

If he can find the right words, the Angels will listen. They were hoping the return of Phil Leftwich would bolster their starting rotation. Making his first start since he was placed on the disabled list June 9 because of swelling in his right lower leg, Leftwich lasted six innings, giving up seven hits and just two earned runs.

Clearly, it wasn’t a bad outing. But on this night, it certainly wasn’t enough to keep pace with Witt.

“In the 14-strikeout game, he had his ‘A’ stuff on all three pitches from the first pitch to the last pitch,” Oakland Manager Tony La Russa said. “Tonight, he was good in the first inning and then slipped a little in the second. After that, he just got stronger and stronger.”

The Angels got the first two runners on in the second inning when Salmon singled and Chad Curtis walked. Designated hitter Rex Hudler sacrificed, but J.T. Snow struck out. Witt walked Greg Myers intentionally to load the bases and then got Gary DiSarcina to ground out to second.

“Witt was good, very good,” Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “He made the pitches he had to make. And he got himself out of that one key inning. Even in a two-hit shutout, there’s usually one key inning that you have to work through.”

Leftwich’s problems began with a one-out walk to Brent Gates in the fifth. Shortstop Mike Bordick lined a triple, his second extra-base hit of the night, into the left-field corner and Scott Brosius’ line-drive single to left gave the A’s a 2-0 lead. Leftwich struck out Scott Hemond, but Rickey Henderson singled and Leftwich escaped the inning only when second baseman Damion Easley made a diving catch of a line drive by Stan Javier.

Oakland took a 3-0 lead in the sixth when Geronimo Berroa led off with a single to left and scored one out later on when Troy Neel singled and Salmon’s throw to third skipped past Spike Owen.

“I know we’re playing better,” La Russa said. “It’s more exciting and more fun, but I don’t think we start saying we’re something special. We’ve got a long way to go to be respectable and that’s getting to .500.”