Jul 1, 2008 10:09 pm US/Pacific
A's Lose To Angels After Giving Up 3 Runs In 8th
ANAHEIM (AP) ―
Vladimir Guerrero triggered a three-run rally in the eighth inning with an RBI single and Garret Anderson hit a two-run homer, helping the Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics 5-3 on Tuesday night.
The win extended their AL West lead over the second-place Athletics to 4 ½ games.
Casey Kotchman greeted Alan Embree (1-3) with a ground-rule double leading off the eighth. After a sacrifice bunt by Maicer Izturis, pinch-runner Reggie Willits scored on Guerrero's ground single through the left side. Anderson then drove a 3-1 pitch to right for his seventh homer.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth for his major league-leading 33rd save in 35 chances. The two-time All-Star is one away from John Smoltz's 2003 record for most saves at the All-Star break.
Angels right-hander Ervin Santana allowed two runs and eight hits in seven innings and struck out seven. Scot Shields (4-2) relieved him and Mark Ellis drove a 1-1 pitch into the left field bullpen with two outs in the eighth for his ninth home run. Ellis has the highest road batting average in the AL (.339) and the lowest at home (.193).
Brad Ziegler relieved A's starter Rich Harden, pitching two perfect innings and striking out three. The side-arming rookie right-hander has not allowed a run in 15 innings spanning his first 14 big league appearances. The longest scoreless stretch by an Oakland pitcher to start a career is 15 1-3 innings, by Steve Chitren in September 1990.
Harden, trying to become the first Oakland starter to being a season 6-0 since Dave Stewart in 1990, allowed two runs and five hits over five innings and struck out five. The no-decision was the seventh for the right-hander, who has allowed two runs or less 10 of his 12 starts. In his previous outing last Thursday, he allowed two hits over eight innings and had a career-high 11 strikeouts in a 5-0 win against Philadelphia.
After watching his team score just two runs over its last 37 innings, Angels manager Mike Scioscia shuffled his lineup dramatically. Kotchman batted second for the first time in his big league career. Izturis started in the third spot for the first time this season, as did Howie Kendrick in the eighth hole.
Kendrick doubled his first time up after Gary Matthews Jr. was hit by a pitch to open the third inning. Jeff Mattis followed with a sacrifice fly and Kendrick scored on a groundout by Kotchman, tying the game 2-all.
The Athletics got two-out RBI singles from Bobby Crosby in the first and Ryan Sweeney in the second.
Kotchman, having a great year defensively at first base, prevented a run in the sixth when he made a diving stop of Daric Barton's grounder in the hole and, while seated, tossed to Santana at the bag.
Notes:@ The Angels had failed to score more than one run in each of their previous four games. It was the franchise's longest such streak since May 13-18, 1969, when they played six straight without scoring two or more and were shut out three times. ... Oakland LF Jack Cust was 1-for-3 with two strikeouts, and is in a 7-for-50 rut over his last 14 games with 21 Ks. ... The Angels' 3.31 team ERA in June was the second-best in the majors behind Oakland's 3.24.
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