'First-rate' Cobb tosses 7 scoreless vs. A's

There’s something about facing the A’s that works for Alex Cobb. Entering Saturday’s game, he boasted a 2.18 ERA in 10 career starts against Oakland -- his lowest mark against any opponent in the American League.

That ERA dropped even lower after the performance Cobb put together in the Angels’ 4-0 win at the Coliseum. The 33-year-old right-hander twirled seven shutout innings and struck out eight batters over the course of the afternoon in what was his best start of the season for the Halos.

Cobb allowed just five baserunners out of the 23 batters he faced, scattering three hits and two walks across 101 pitches -- his most in a start this year.

“He just kept us off balance,” said A’s manager Bob Melvin. “He’s got a really good split that he throws in any count. He’s got a good sinker. He’s got a high ground-ball rate. Throws just enough curveballs early in counts for strikes and just had us off balance the entire game.”

Of those 101 pitches, Cobb threw 45 sinkers, 31 splitters and 25 knuckle curves, generating 12 whiffs, which were evenly divided between the trio of pitches in his arsenal. He induced eight groundouts, two of which were double-play balls.

That doesn’t even include the most impressive double play of the game, which came in the bottom of the fourth. Third baseman Anthony Rendon caught a foul popup despite being in a defensive shift and combined with shortstop David Fletcher to throw out Tony Kemp at second base.

“[Cobb] can definitely put the ball on the ground, that’s one of his strong points,” said Angels manager Joe Maddon. “Then we gotta catch it, that’s part of us shoring [up] our defense also. It’s a combination of being in the right spots and execution, and I think we were really good on both today.”

The Angels backed Cobb with a four-run fifth inning, highlighted by a two-out, two-run single from Shohei Ohtani, who started at designated hitter in the day game after throwing 93 pitches in a quality start Friday night. It was part of a 2-for-5 day at the plate for Ohtani, with a run scored and a stolen base.

“That always amazes me,” Maddon said. “I mean, to pitch whatever he did … and with the velocity that he has -- to say that he felt really good today is kind of phenomenal. And then you see the way he swung the bat, the stolen base. Just a different animal, man. It’s fun to work with.”

Rendon also contributed an RBI single in that fifth inning, while Fletcher opened the scoring on a squeeze play. A’s catcher Aramis Garcia could not contain the flip from Matt Olson on Fletcher’s bunt down the first-base line, allowing Jose Rojas to score from third.

But as much as the offense came alive in that frame, Cobb credited the way the defense made plays behind him throughout as the key to his outing.

“It’s such a big part of my game to be able to do that. It gives me the ability to stay calm on the mound and continue to be aggressive,” Cobb said. “When I have days like this when I’m able to manipulate the ball and get it to do what I want it to, then you’re able to play the game and do the thinking game with the hitter and set them up different ways. And that’s when it becomes fun.

“I’m able to disguise pitches. I’m able to make strikes look like balls and balls look like strikes and get guys to chase, get guys to put the ball on the ground. That’s a successful day for me.”

It was Cobb’s second straight strong start since his return from the injured list with a right finger blister, following an outing on May 20 against the Twins when he allowed one run on four hits in five innings.

Cobb picked up his third win of the season with Saturday’s outing, and his season ERA dropped from 4.78 to 3.78. He’s starting to find his stride, as he finished the month of May with a 2-1 record and a 0.53 ERA across 17 innings. It’s a good sign for the hurler -- and for the Angels.

“Everything he did was first-rate,” Maddon said. “You see his demeanor, his calmness when things got hairy just the couple times. [It was] a great game to build off of. … That was really, really fun to watch.”