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Nolan Schanuel’s three-hit night can’t save Angels from loss

Luis Morales struck out five in his second career start, Brent Rooker and Colby Thomas hit home runs, and the Athletics beat the Angels 7-2 on Saturday night.

Morales (1-0) threw five innings and gave up one run, walking two, in his third career appearance. He has surrendered two runs in 9⅔ innings since his Aug. 1 call-up.

Thomas’ two-run homer, his third of the year, put the A’s on the board in the first inning.

Darell Hernaiz drove in two on a third-inning single, and Rooker padded the A’s lead with his solo homer in the fifth.

Brett Harris and Rooker added insurance in the eighth with RBI singles. Sean Newcomb threw 1⅔ innings and struck out three to earn his first save of the year.

Nolan Schanuel had three hits, and Angels’ starter Tyler Anderson (2-8) yielded four earned runs, three hits, and issued five walks in the loss.

The A’s have won six of their last 10 games, while the Angels have lost six of their last 10.

Morales walked the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the first, but worked his way out of the jam with no runs scored. He only allowed one more runner to reach scoring position for the rest of his outing.

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Seattle’s Cal Raleigh becomes first catcher to win Home Run Derby

Seattle’s Cal Raleigh won his first Home Run Derby after leading the big leagues in long balls going into the break, defeating Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in the final round Monday night.

The Mariners’ breakout slugger nicknamed “Big Dumper” advanced from the first round on a tiebreaker by less than an inch over the Athletics’ Brent Rooker, then won his semifinal 19-13 over Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz, whose 513-foot first-round drive over Truist Park’s right-center field seats was the longest of the night.

Hitting second in the final round, the 22-year-old Caminero closed within three dingers, took three pitches and hit a liner to left field.

Becoming the first switch-hitter and first catcher to win the title, Raleigh had reached the All-Star break with a major league-leading 38 home runs. He became the second Mariners player to take the title after three-time winner Ken Griffey Jr.

“Usually the guy that’s leading the league in homers doesn’t win the whole thing,” Raleigh said. “That’s as surprising to me as anybody else.”

Raleigh was pitched to by his father, Todd, former coach of Tennessee and Western Carolina. His younger brother, Todd Raleigh Jr., did the catching.

“Just to do it with my family was awesome,” Raleigh said.

Just the second Derby switch-hitter after Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman in 2023, Raleigh hit his first eight left-handed, took a timeout, then hit seven right-handed. Going back to lefty, he then hit two more in the bonus round and stayed lefty for the semifinals and the final.

Caminero beat Minnesota’s Byron Buxton 8-7 in the other semifinal.

Atlanta’s Matt Olson, Washington’s James Wood, the New York Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Rooker were eliminated in the first round of the annual power show.

Cruz and Caminero each hit 21 long balls and Buxton had 20 in the opening round. Raleigh and Rooker had 17 apiece, but Raleigh advanced on the tiebreaker of their longest homer, 470.61 feet to 470.53.

“One little tweak in the system and I’m not even in the next round, so that’s crazy,” Raleigh said.

Cruz’s long drive was the hardest-hit at 118 mph.

The longest derby homer since Statcast started tracking in 2016 was 520 feet by Juan Soto in the mile-high air of Denver’s Coors Field in 2021. Last year, the longest drive at Arlington, Texas, was 473 feet by Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna.

Wood hit 16 homers, including a 486-foot shot and one that landed on the roof of the Chop House behind the right-field wall. Olson, disappointing his hometown fans, did not go deep on his first nine swings and finished with 15, He also was eliminated in the first round in 2021.

Chisholm hit just three homers, the fewest since the timer format started in 2015.

Blum writes for the Associated Press.

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