Wade LeBlanc unlikely Sept. star as Angels blank A's

OAKLAND – Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia has a habit of referring to left-hander Wade LeBlanc as "Matt,'' confusing his first name with that of the former "Friends'' actor.

The Oakland Athletics could be excused for making the same mistake. After all, Wade LeBlanc is just the latest in a long list of pitchers to shut them down.

LeBlanc, who spent most of the season at Class AAA Salt Lake, brought a 20-33 career major league record and a 4.55 ERA into his third start of the year for L.A. Like so many other lefties, though, he looked much like Warren Spahn to the A's, throwing 5 1/3 sharp innings in the Angels' 2-0 victory Tuesday night.

In the process, the seven-year veteran might have insinuated himself into the Angels' postseason plans, at least as a reliever.

It wasn't a particularly damaging loss for the A's because the Seattle Mariners got routed in Toronto, keeping Oakland and the Kansas City Royals three games ahead of their closest pursuer for the American League wild-card spots.

And with staff ace Jon Lester taking the mound Wednesday, the A's stand a reasonable chance of lowering their magic number for clinching a playoff spot, currently at three.

What continues to haunt Oakland, though, is its inability to convert well-pitched games into wins. Over the last 19 games, A's starters have registered a 2.65 ERA and their record in that stretch is 4-7.

Second-year right-hander Sonny Gray, who had shown signs of wearing down in going 1-5 with a 5.05 ERA in his last nine starts, reverted to his pre-All-Star Game form in setting a career high with 12 strikeouts, three of them against MVP favorite Mike Trout.

But Gray gave up an unearned run in the first inning – with daring base-running by Erick Aybar creating the opportunity – and a solo shot to Gordon Beckham in the sixth, his next-to-last inning.

That proved too much to overcome for Oakland's sputtering offense, which was coming off back-to-back eight-run games but had totaled 19 runs in the previous 10 games.

"Any time you get a great pitching performance like that, it's frustrating to not reward him,'' outfielder Sam Fuld said after Oakland went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base. "It's one of the major themes of the last month, month and a half or so. We definitely had our opportunities. You have to take advantage of that.''

LeBlanc certainly has. He was designated for assignment twice this season, including once by the Angels, but has allowed just one run in 17 innings in seven September appearances.

LeBlanc was making his second start of the month in replacing Matt Shoemaker, who is out with an oblique injury. On Thursday, LeBlanc had held the Mariners scoreless over 5 1/3 innings.

"We haven't made any decisions yet in any aspect as far as what our playoff rotation's going to be or our playoff roster,'' Scioscia said, "but that's two really strong starts Wade got us. He looked good in both of them.''

In dropping to 5-11 vs. lefty starters since Aug. 1 – the day after trading Yoenis Cespedes – the A's failed once again to win a third game in a row for the first time since Aug. 7-9. After Wednesday's series finale, they have four games left at the Texas Rangers, who swept them in Oakland last week.

A small recent surge and Seattle's stumbles have taken some pressure off, but the A's still can't seem to build any momentum to carry them into the playoffs.

"We're in a good position,'' said Stephen Vogt, who stranded six runners. "Obviously, we'd would have liked to win tonight. We'd like to win every night. But the game of baseball is funny. You just have to tip your cap to their pitching tonight.''

The A's have been doing plenty of that for some time now.