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OAKLAND — A return to the Coliseum may have been all Mike Fiers needed to get back on track.
Starting his second Opening Day in nearly a week, Fiers made up for the poor first one in Japan by looking more like the pitcher who piloted the A’s 2018 playoff run in Thursday’s 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels in front of 22,691 fans at the Oakland Coliseum.
Command was an issue for Fiers in his first start and still somewhat of a problem against the Angels — he walked three batters and hit another. But leaving the Tokyo Dome, where the ball flew all over the yard, was like therapy for him.
All of the fly balls allowed by Fiers stayed in the park at the Coliseum, and he kept the Angels (0-1) off the scoreboard through six innings on just one hit allowed before turning it over to the back-end of the bullpen.
“No adjustments, it was kind of the same deal,” Fiers said. “Just trying to pound the zone and get early outs. I got out of some big jams with some double plays. I was trying to challenge guys and get them to swing early.”
The quality start by Fiers was a nice re-do for the right-hander after he failed to set the tone he had hoped in the Tokyo season opener, allowing five runs and lasting just three innings against the Seattle Mariners last week.
The A’s (1-2) provide Fiers with four runs through the first six innings against an old friend in Trevor Cahill. Marcus Semien and Khris Davis both took their former teammate deep for solo home runs, with Davis’ shot to left in the sixth his second of the season after homering in the A’s opener against the Mariners last Wednesday.
When Davis homers it’s usually to the opposite field in right field somewhere. Not this time.
He pulled a 1-2 sinker from Cahill into the second deck of the Coliseum beyond the left-field wall, invoking memories of the days when sluggers like Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco used take turns bashing homers into those areas.
“I can’t remember the last time I saw one go into the upper deck in left field here,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s been here for a few years and I don’t even think he’s hit one up there. That’s not an easy place to go.”
Davis has homered more than any other player in baseball over the past three years, but he even managed to surprise himself with where the home run ball landed.
“I don’t usually go that way but it just happened,” Davis said. “I try to impress myself sometimes. It feels good.”
The four-run lead did not present a save situation, but A’s manager Bob Melvin did not take any chances. Lou Trivino, Joakim Soria and Blake Treinen closed out the game with a scoreless final three innings.
“That’s the way you draw it up in a perfect world,” Melvin said of the back-end bullpen trio. “It might be the other way around had I not had Lou warming up the inning before. Between those three, that’s the way we look at it.”
