The A’s tied the Angels at 3 in the seventh to send the game to extras, but an A’s grand slam in the 12th snapped the Angel’s seven-game win streak.
The Angels scored all three runs off A’s starter Rich Harden in the fourth. Vlad drove a two-run shot to left to score Garret Anderson and himself for the go-ahead run. Torii Hunter then singled, stole second, and scored off Gary Matthews Jr.’s RBI-single. Harden and the A’s bullpen shut down the Angels after the fourth, leaving 12 men on base and going just 1 for 12 with RISP for the game. The Angels had two men on in the 7th, 8th and 9th but failed to drive the runners home.
Ervin Santana threw another strong six-plus innings, giving up just two runs on seven hits with 9 K’s. Santana had his streak of 23 consecutive scoreless innings snapped in the first when he allowed the A’s to take a 1-0 lead off Eric Chavez’s RBI-single. He left with a one-run lead in the seventh to make way for Darren Oliver, who walked Jack Cust before pinch-runner Rajai Davis scored off Chavez’s RBI-double. Scot Shields finished the inning as well as the eighth before Justin Speier threw three hitless innings and allowed no baserunners to keep the game tied into the 12th. Chris Bootcheck then loaded the bases and gave up a walk-off granny off the left field foul pole to Mark Ellis to take the loss, his first of the season.
The A’s picked up a game on Angels but the Halos are still 4 1/2 up in the division as they kick off a nine-game homestand tomorrow.
