Aug 27, 2008 11:27 pm US/Pacific
Emil Brown's HR, 3 RBIs lead A's Past Angels
ANAHEIM (AP) ―
Emil Brown homered and drove in three runs, Rajai Davis had a career-high four hits and the Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-5 on Wednesday night.
The Athletics won two of three from the Angels and took a series for the first time in their last 13 attempts since July 7-10, when they won three of four from Seattle.
The Angels haven't won any of their last five series since sweeping the Yankees at home. They have a 15-game lead on the Texas Rangers, who come to Anaheim on Thursday night to begin a four-game series.
Huston Street (4-5) retired all five batters he faced after coming on in the sixth and striking out Mike Napoli with two men on.
Rookie Brad Ziegler, who replaced Street as the Athletics' closer, got five outs for his sixth save. The sidearming right-hander ended it by getting Juan Rivera to ground into a double play with runners at first and second.
Staked to a 6-0 lead through two innings in his in his fifth big league start, Oakland left-hander Gio Gonzalez failed to retire a batter in the fourth as the Angels made a game of it with a four-run rally.
Gonzalez, who escaped a one-out bases-loaded jam in the second after walking three batters, hit Robb Quinlan with a pitch to load them again in the fourth with none out. No. 9 hitter Erick Aybar chased Gonzalez with a two-run single, Quinlan scored on a fielder's choice grounder by Gary Matthews Jr., and Mark Teixeira's RBI single against Alan Embree made it 6-4.
Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick came out after feeling tightness in his left hamstring advancing to second on Teixeira's hit. Sean Rodriguez replaced him and struck out with two runners in scoring position in the fifth, after Aybar's RBI single trimmed Oakland's lead to 6-5.
All-Star Joe Saunders (14-7) had his second rough outing in a row, throwing 49 pitches over 1 1-3 innings and allowing six runs on eight hits.
Davis opened the game by beating out a single to Kendrick after his one-hopper to the right side of the mound deflected off Saunders' bare hand. Manager Mike Scioscia and trainer Ned Bergert went out to check on him and decided to let Saunders stay in after a couple of warmup pitches.
But it all went downhill from there. Davis stole second and scored on Brown's single before the A's blew it open with a five-run second inning. Eric Patterson singled home a run, Bobby Crosby added a two-run double and Brown chased Saunders with a two-run homer to left-center, his 13th.
Brown had a chance to increase Oakland's 6-5 lead, but popped out to shortstop with the bases loaded to end the sixth.
Saunders, who beat Oakland 2-0 with eight innings of four-hit ball on April 29 in Anaheim, is 5-3 with a 4.72 ERA in nine starts this season when pitching on four days rest and 7-4 with a 3.49 ERA in 12 starts on five days' rest.
Notes:@ Scioscia was ejected by plate umpire Paul Schreiber while making a pitching change in the seventh inning after Darren Oliver issued a leadoff walk to Frank Thomas. ... Angels 3B and leadoff hitter Chone Figgins did not play because of irritation in his left big toe. ... Angels OF Reggie Willits was activated after missing 16 games with a mild concussion. He was eligible to come off the disabled list last Sunday, but the team needed an extra pitcher because of an overworked bullpen. RHP Jason Bulger was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake.
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