LA Angels 5, Oakland 4
When: 10:05 PM ET, Friday, June 12, 2015
Where: Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim, California
Temperature:
70°
Umpires:
Home -
Ted Barrett, 1B -
Chris Conroy, 2B -
Angel Hernandez, 3B -
Scott Barry
Attendance:
42113
By The Sports Xchange
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- It was either intuitive marketing or just a stroke of good luck, but it all came together for the Los Angeles Angels and Kole Calhoun on Friday night.
Fans received a Calhoun bobblehead when they entered Angel Stadium, and Calhoun responded with two hits, including the game-winning home run in the eighth inning, lifting the Angels to a 5-4 win over the Oakland A's.
"I'm getting a bunch of them," Calhoun said of his first bobblehead. "Passing them out to family and stuff, like 60 or 70. Everybody I know. You guys want one?
"It's kind of surreal, just being a fan of the game and coming from where I came from, to have giveaways from your home club, it just humbles you."
Calhoun's homer was the second homer hit in the eighth. Center fielder Mike Trout led off the inning with his team-leading 18th homer of the season, tying the game at 4. One out later, Calhoun broke the tie. Both homers came against A's reliever Evan Scribner, continuing Oakland's struggles in the bullpen and ruining starter Jesse Chavez's chances for a victory.
"We have to execute better pitches than that," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "It hasn't been the starters, the starters have been the best in the American League this year. ... We have to find a way to be better than we have (in the bullpen). The numbers indicate where we are with it, and it's not good. It's the reason we're losing games like that."
Right fielder Josh Reddick had given the A's a 4-3 lead with a two-run homer in the seventh before the Angels rallied in the eighth.
Reliever Jose Alvarez (1-1) got the victory for the Angels, who won the game with manager Mike Scioscia watching the final three innings on television in his clubhouse office after being ejected for the first time this season.
Angels closer Huston Street, the last of four who pitched in relief of starter Hector Santiago, threw a scoreless ninth for his 18th save.
The sixth inning started off well for the Angels, who trailed 2-1 but got something going after Trout's leadoff single. First baseman Albert Pujols followed with a double, sending Trout to third.
Calhoun drove in both baserunners with a single to center, giving the Angels a 3-2 lead. But a potentially bigger inning was thwarted when second baseman Johnny Giavotella was called out on a close play at first.
Replays showed Giavotella beat the throw from third baseman Brett Lawrie, but the Angels were out of challenges, having used one in the third inning and the ruling going against them.
Scioscia's only recourse was to argue with first base umpire Chris Conroy. The argument escalated, Scioscia was ejected and the inning quickly fizzled after that.
"It's certainly not the umpire's fault we lost our challenge, we rolled the dice early and lost the challenge and that's the byproduct of it," Scioscia said. "When they miss calls, no matter how much they miss them, if it's before the seventh inning. There's no recourse.
"I was hoping those guys (umpires) at least could huddle and maybe somebody had a better angle, because 'obviously safe' is an understatement."
The Angels' lead didn't last long, as Reddick followed Mark Canha's two-out single in the top of the seventh with a two-run homer, his 10th of the season, off Angels reliever Fernando Salas.
The Angels took a 1-0 lead against Chavez in the second inning. Giavotella led off the inning with a double and scored on a single by left fielder Efren Navarro.
The Angels took that lead into the fourth inning before the A's connected on back-to-back homers to take a 2-1 lead. With two out, Lawrie connected off Santiago, and catcher Josh Phegley followed with a homer to put the A's in front for the time being.
NOTES: The A's placed RHP Pat Venditte on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained right shoulder. Manager Bob Melvin said
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Oakland
|
10 |
3 |
20 |
.270 |
14 |
9 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
| LA Angels
|
9 |
2 |
17 |
.300 |
12 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
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