Angels snap A's 12-game road win streak

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ANAHEIM -- Sometimes being greedy isn't a bad thing. The A's would have loved to cap their seven-game road trip with a sweep of the Angels, they'll have to settle for a still solid 6-1 excursion through the lower parts of the American League West. They couldn't break out the brooms for a second time in a row, but they still cleaned up nicely. The biggest loss for the A's might not be in the standings. Left fielder Yoenis Cespedes sprained his right wrist sliding into second base in the fourth inning. He is being listed as day-to-day and after the game A's manager Bob Melvin said his injury isn't serious. Having won an Oakland-era-trying 12 games in a row on the road, their streak was snapped by Angels ace and Cy Young contender Jered Weaver. The Angels' 6-0 defeat of Oakland made Weaver 3-0 in four starts against the A's this season. He only allowed one earned run in 30 13 innings against Oakland."When he's got everything working it's tough to think along with him," Melvin said. "It's tough to eliminate pitches and sit on a certain pitch because he mixes it up so well."Weaver tossed seven innings of two-hit shutout baseball and struck out nine A's batters. He traded zeros with Brett Anderson, who matched him through the first six innings but faltered in the seventh frame, allowing five runs. "Overall the line score doesn't look very good but I was happy with the way I battled and kept us in the ball game," Anderson said. "But Jered Weaver is Jered Weaver, especially at home here in day games."Anderson allowed a leadoff homer to Torii Hunter in the seventh inning. He retired the next batter but then gave up three consecutive hits making it 3-0 Angels. Melvin visited the mound and Anderson insisted he wanted to stay in the game. He responded by striking out Chris Iannetta but walked Mike Trout to load the bases and was removed from the game. "It's pretty hot out there and it starts to get to you," Melvin said. "A lot of times when you hit that wall it comes pretty quickly, but I thought his stuff was as good as it was any time out and he is continuing to pitch at a very high level."After Anderson left the game reliever Jesse Chavez made his A's debut and allowed all three of his inherited runners to score on two singles, a walk, and a passed ball. "You never want to have one rough inning," Anderson said. "I like the way I've pitched. One bad inning today but you never want to have a reliever come in the game in the situation Chavez did, but he battled and things didn't fall our way today."The Angels sent 11 runners to the plate in their six-run seventh inning. Anderson was saddled with his first loss since returning from Tommy John surgery. He is 4-1 with a 1.93 ERA in his five starts since being forced to take 14 months off to rehab.
The A's won the season series with the Angels 10-9 and don't have to face the Halos or Weaver again unless they meet in the postseason."Outside of the lineup they have here it's a pretty hostile environment," Jonny Gomes said. "They've got that damn rally monkey jumping around in the seventh inning on. Three out of four here, six out of seven on the road trip seems to be a good thing." The A's were shut out for a Major League-leading 16th time on Thursday. They didn't seem all that concerned about it after the game. "We set ourselves up nice," Anderson said. "We have a big home series against Baltimore and a tough road trip and I like the way we are playing."The traveling A's show continues with a quick stop for three days in Oakland before heading out to Detroit, New York, and Texas.