ANAHEIM — Shohei Ohtani sprang for second base. Chris Bassitt’s fastball arrived low. Sean Murphy caught it and fired to second in one motion, his right leg whipping to the side, catcher’s mask loosed by the recoil.
Ohtani boasts excellent speed. The Angels’ two-way star on Thursday became the first MLB player to steal 15 bases and pitch in 15 games in a season since 1901. Murphy owns a strong arm. But teams have tested him, converting 30 of 37 steal attempts before Friday.
Murphy’s throw was early and perfectly placed. Tony Kemp placed a tag on Ohtani’s right hip. A one-run game at the time hinged on such a margin. Bassitt allowed two more hits that inning but no runs. The A’s finished a 2-0 win, their second shutout in two nights in Anaheim.
“I knew (Ohtani) was going to try to push the action so I just was trying to give Murph a good time (to the plate), which I basically have done a horrible job of all year,” Bassitt said. “I just said I’m going to keep slide-stepping here until he goes, I had a good feeling he was going to go, and then obviously Murph put a perfect throw on the bag.”
Oakland have emerged from a four-game losing streak on the strength of starting pitching. In recent days, the A’s made trades to bolster their lineup and bullpen. A new center fielder and reliever arrived. Depth in the infield and at catcher should join Saturday. The rotation required no such reinforcement.
A’s starters have not allowed a run in their last 20 innings or in five of the last 10 games. Bassitt quieted the Angels for seven innings on Friday. He scattered six hits, just one for extra bases. Sergio Romo worked a scoreless eighth, retiring the top of Anaheim’s lineup in order, and has not allowed a run in his past 13 outings. Lou Trivino converted his 10th straight save chance.
“It’s important that these (starters) can get deep in games because you don’t want to overwork your bullpen,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Now you get to a point where maybe you’re using your starter a little bit too long, but these guys have been built up to do it. They seem like they’ve gotten stronger as the season’s gone along. And I think it’ll pay dividends with our bullpen coming down the stretch.”
The A’s rotation leads the majors with 605 1/3 innings. The gap between their number and the second-most, 571 innings for the White Sox, is larger than that between the second- and 10th-highest totals. Oakland’s 3.63 rotation ERA is third-lowest in the AL. Bassitt leads the league in innings (137), ranks eighth in ERA (3.28) and is fifth in strikeouts (139).
“From the start of the year I feel like everyone kind of doubted us and I feel somehow someway everyone still doubts us, like these numbers are just going to somehow disappear,” Bassitt said. “But I mean, (Sean) Manaea should have been an All-Star, (Frankie) Montas is pitching absolutely lights-out for the last month, (Cole Irvin) has just been consistent as always and then (James Kaprielian) is arguably, in my opinion, one of the rookies of the year.”
David Fletcher shot Bassitt’s first pitch Friday up the middle for a single. Bassitt retired his next 10 hitters in a row. Phil Gosselin pulled a breaking ball into left field for a single to snap that streak with one out in the fourth. It was the first inning where Bassitt labored.
Bassitt fell behind Max Stassi, 2-1, shook his head and walked behind the mound, breathing deeply before climbing it again. His next two pitches missed. His rebound was quick. Bassitt struck out Brandon Marsh on three pitches, clenching his fist as he walked to the dugout.
In the fifth, Adam Eaton roped a one-out double. Bassitt struck out Jack Mayfield to bring up Fletcher, who has hounded Bassitt, entering Friday with a .389 average against the A’s right-hander. Bassitt induced a groundout on an 0-2 curveball.
“Our rotation I think is the reason we are where we are as a team, not only the rotation but the bullpen also,” shortstop Elvis Andrus said. “Really pleased with the job they’ve been doing especially the last few games and I think that’s what we need, get back on good pitching, good defense, and trying to score as many runs as we can.”
One run was enough Friday. Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval had taken a no-hitter into the ninth inning of his previous outing and totaled 108 pitches. He threw 115 pitches over 5 ⅔ innings against the A’s. Six walks drove his count up. Sandoval also allowed four hits, but the A’s could only capitalize once. Nine of his baserunners were stranded.
The A’s loaded the bases with two outs in the second on a single and two walks. Sandoval struck Kemp out swinging. They loaded the bases again with one out in the fourth. Sandoval struck out Kemp on three straight swing-throughs but, in a full count to Mark Canha, missed outside with a changeup to force in the game’s first run.
Bassitt retired the Angels in the seventh inning, his last, on five pitches and exited at 95 total. In his previous outing, Bassitt bemoaned a lack of off-speed command. He used a harder slider Friday as his primary off-speed offering along with three types of fastballs. He struck out seven in his best outing of July; he entered with a 5.40 ERA in four starts this month.
“I feel like I’ve pitched a lot better than my numbers would say just because I feel like with my off-speed I’ve made a lot of hanging mistakes because my mindset was wrong,” Bassitt said.
Matt Chapman provided insurance with a 402-foot blast off reliever Mike Mayers in the eighth. It was the third baseman’s 14th home run this season, all but three solo shots. Sandoval struck out six batters. including Kemp, a left-handed hitter, three times. Soon, such matchups might go to Josh Harrison, the right-handed utilityman acquired Friday from the Nationals.
Matt Kawahara covers the A’s for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: mkawahara@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @matthewkawahara
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