A's 8, Angels 7
ANAHEIM, Calif. --The Oakland A's rallied for four runs in the seventh inning and cooled off the surging Los Angeles Angels with an 8-7 victory Wednesday night at Angel Stadium.
The Angels made things interesting when right fielder Kole Calhoun homered off lefty Sean Doolittle leading off the ninth inning to bring the Angels to within one run.
Center fielder Mike Trout walked, but designated hitter Albert Pujols popped out and first baseman C.J. Cron lined out. Third baseman David Freese sent Trout to third with a single to center, but pinch hitter Collin Cowgill grounded out to end it.
Winners of seven in a row heading into the game, the Angels took a 5-3 lead into the seventh inning. However, Oakland, helped by some shoddy Los Angeles defense, flipped the script.
The A's had only six hits in the game, but they took advantage of four Angels errors to score seven unearned runs.
Angels second baseman Taylor Featherston entered the game in the seventh for defensive purposes, but he booted second baseman Eric Sogard's grounder leading off the inning, and the A's ultimately batted around.
Sogard also was in the middle of things earlier in the game, hitting a two-out three-run, double off Angels starter Garrett Richards on an 0-2 pitch in the fourth inning. All three runs were unearned because second baseman Johnny Giavotella committed an error earlier in the inning.
Down 3-2 in the sixth, the Angels got a rally started with two outs and nobody on base. Catcher Carlos Perez ripped a single to center, but center fielder Sam Fuld let the ball skip past him and go to the wall.
Perez wound up on third, but it didn't really matter because Giavotella hit a two-run homer to put the Angels up 4-3. Shortstop Erick Aybar followed with a single, and he scored on a double by Calhoun to make it 5-3.
The Angels' bullpen, though, could not hold the lead, denying Richards his 16th win. Richards gave up three unearned runs on two hits and four walks in six innings. He struck out seven.
A's starter Barry Zito, making the final start of his 15-year major league career, gave up two runs on four hits and four walks in four innings. The runs scored on solo homers by Trout (No. 41) and Freese (No. 14).
Perez had three hits for the Angels, including a solo home run in the eighth inning.
The Angels and A's combined to use 14 pitchers in the game. A's reliever Ryan Dull (1-1) got the win over Angels reliever Mike Morin (3-2). Doolittle pitched the final 1 2/3 innings for the A's to earn his third save.
The Texas Rangers, leading the American League West by two games entering the day, were playing later Wednesday, as were the Houston Astros, who started the day a half-game behind the Angels in the race for the second AL wild card.
NOTES: The Angels added LHP Jo-Jo Reyes to the major league roster before the game for depth in the bullpen. Reyes, who last pitched in the majors in 2011, began the season with Campeche in the Mexican League before joining the Angels' organization and pitching for Triple-A Salt Lake the last half of the year, going 4-5 with a 4.76 ERA in 15 games (11 starts). ... To make room for Reyes on the 40-man roster, INF/OF Grant Green was designated for assignment. Green hit .190 in 21 games for the Angels this season, spending most of his time at Salt Lake. ... The A's have used 30 pitchers this season, the most in franchise history, including time in Kansas City (1955-67) and Philadelphia (1901-54). ... No matter what happens in their remaining games, the A's will finish with the worst record in the American League for the third time in Oakland history (1993, '97).