HALOS WALK OFF FOR 9^TH STRAIGHT ‘W’

Pull to Within 1 Game of A’s

ANAHEIM, Aug. 29 (AP) – Howie Kendrick’s single in the bottom of the ninth inning scored Mike Trout with the winning run as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics 3-2 at Angel Stadium.  The win was the ninth straight for the red hot Angels, who pulled to within a game of first place Oakland in the American League West.  The Angels have been the hottest team in the AL since the All-Star break, posting a 29-11 record since the mid-season classic, and the current nine-game winning streak is tied for the second longest in the major leagues this year.  The Seattle Mariners posted an 11-game winning streak in mid-June.

Los Angeles built an early lead behind starter Jared Weaver, with single runs in the second and third innings.  David Freese led off the bottom of the second with a double off A’s starter Jon Lester and scored the game’s first run when newly acquired Gordon Beckham doubled two batters later.  In the third, Josh Hamilton singled with two outs and Kendrick’s two-bagger advanced him to third.  Lester then uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Hamilton to score to put the Angels on top 2-0.

But Oakland got a run back in the fourth on Josh Reddick’s 10^th home run of the season.  It was the only tally the A’s would manage off Weaver, who held Oakland to just two hits in six innings of work.

The Angels, meanwhile, had scoring opportunities galore against Lester, managing at least two baserunners in each of the first six frames, but the A’s lefty allowed only the two early runs In 6 1/3 innings of work.

Oakland managed to tie the game in the top of the seventh against reliever Kevin Jepsen, who walked Derek Norris to open the inning.  Alberto Callaspo followed by dumping a single into left and Eric Sogard’s sacrifice put runners on second and third with one out.  Coco Crisp’s grounder to second then scored Norris to tie the game at two.

Angels reliever Joe Smith yielded a lead-off double to Reddick in the top of the ninth, but pitched around it, giving the Angels an opportunity to walk off the contest in the bottom half of the inning.  Facing Luke Gregerson, Trout worked a lead-off walk and promptly stole second.  Albert Pujols sacrificed himself, pushing a grounder to the right side to advance the baserunner, giving the Angels a man on third base with only one out.  Gregerson walked Hamilton intentionally, bringing Kendrick to the plate.  On a 2-2 pitch with the infield in all the way around, Kendrick picked out a Gregerson fastball and lined it into right-center field for the game-winner.  It was the second walk-off hit this month for Howie Kendrick, who also accomplished the feat with a 10^th inning base hit that capped Loa Angeles’ 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on August 8.

8/29/2014, Oak14-LAA14, Angel Stadium

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP

2014 Athletics         0  0  0  1  0  0  1  0  0     2  4  0     7  2

2014 Angels            0  1  1  0  0  0  0  0  1     3 13  0    13  0

Athletics            AB  R  H BI   AVG    Angels               AB  R  H BI   AVG

Crisp             cf  4  0  0  1  .231    Calhoun           rf  5  0  0  0  .224

Fuld              lf  3  0  0  0  .284    Trout             cf  3  1  1  0  .320

Donaldson         3b  4  0  0  0  .253    Pujols            1b  5  0  1  0  .260

Vogt              1b  3  0  0  0  .252    Hamilton,J        lf  4  1  3  0  .268

Moss              dh  4  0  0  0  .245    Kendrick,H        2b  5  0  3  2  .302

Reddick           rf  4  1  2  1  .291    Freese            dh  4  1  2  0  .224

Norris,De         c   3  1  0  0  .311    Aybar             ss  4  0  0  0  .290

Callaspo          2b  3  0  1  0  .210    Iannetta          c   4  0  2  0  .246

Sogard            ss  2  0  1  0  .242    Beckham           3b  2  0  1  1  .214

                     30  2  4  2                               36  3 13  3

Athletics                        INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Lester                           6.1 11  2  2  1  5 105  75  3.22

Otero                            1.2  1  0  0  0  1  17  13  2.85

Gregerson        L 6-2           0.1  1  1  1  2  0  20  10  2.48

                                 8.1 13  3  3  3  6 142  98

Angels                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Weaver                           6.0  2  1  1  4  9 103  59  4.14

Jepsen           BS 4            1.0  1  1  1  1  0  18   7  2.17

Salas                            1.0  0  0  0  0  0  11   8  2.27

Smith,J          W 3-2           1.0  1  0  0  0  2  21  14  2.18

                                 9.0  4  2  2  5 11 153  88

2B-Reddick(19), Pujols(31), Kendrick,H(33), Freese(18), Beckham(21).

HR-Reddick(10). RBI-Crisp(34), Reddick(43), Kendrick,H 2(56), Beckham(44).

SB-Sogard(13), Trout(13), Kendrick,H(12). K-Donaldson 2, Vogt, Moss 2,

Reddick, Norris,De 3, Callaspo 2, Calhoun, Trout, Pujols, Kendrick,H, Aybar,

Iannetta. BB-Fuld, Vogt, Norris,De, Callaspo, Sogard, Trout 2, Hamilton,J.

SH-Sogard. HBP-Beckham 2. HB-Lester 2. WP-Lester.

GWRBI: Kendrick,H

Temperature: 81, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: out to right at 19 MPH.

Attendance: 45,581

Game Time: 2:53