Oakland, CA – Bartolo Colon continued to impress on the mound by throwing seven strong innings and the Oakland Athletics belted four homers in a 10-4 rout of the Angels.
Jonny Gomes, Josh Reddick, Derek Norris and Adam Rosales all went deep, as the Athletics snapped a three-game skid and bounced back from a 4-0 loss in the opener of this three-game series.
Colon (9-8) gave up four hits and an unearned run while fanning five. He has not allowed an earned run in his last three starts. Colon entered with a scoreless streak of 16 1/3 innings and went past the longest string of his career, 20 innings, set from Sept. 13-28, 2000 when he pitched for Cleveland. The only run he surrendered Tuesday came on a Maicer Izturis single in the seventh.
Coco Crisp made the highlight play of the night by making a leaping grab in center to rob Kendrys Morales of a homer to start the ninth.
"For whatever reason, tonight we seemed rejuvenated," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "I thought we looked a little bit tired the last few days based on the fact we played so many long games, close games. We felt like we were dragging a little bit. That was a nice offensive effort."
Mike Trout homered on his 21st birthday, but the Angels lost for the fifth time in their last seven games. Erick Aybar added a two-run shot in the ninth off Travis Blackley in the battle between wild card contenders.
C.J. Wilson (9-8) lost his fourth straight decision by yielding nine hits and six runs -- three earned -- while walking five over five innings.
"His ball-strike ratio and his ability to repeat pitches just wasn't consistent," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He wasn't missing by much. No doubt he was around the plate, but just getting into the zone and putting hitters away became an issue. He had some high pitch counts and struggled through five innings."
Gomes homered to left in the first and the A's padded their lead to 5-0 in the third. After loading the bases, Norris hit a bouncer that went under the legs of third baseman Alberto Callaspo to plate two runners. Rosales followed with a sacrifice fly and Jemile Weeks tacked on an RBI triple to center.
Oakland, which loaded the bases in three of the first four innings, busted the game open over the following two frames. Gomes' infield single plated Crisp in the fifth.
In the sixth, Norris hit a towering two-run homer to left. The ball caromed off the concrete above the scoreboard, and umpires used video review to confirm the homer. Rosales was up next and launched his first homer of the year to left for a 9-0 difference.
Weeks committed a throwing error in the seventh, and Izturis singled to center to plate Morales later in the inning.
Reddick homered to right in the bottom of the frame before Trout homered into the camera well beyond the wall in center leading off the eighth.
Game Notes
Wilson is winless in eight consecutive starts and hasn't had a victory since June 26 at Baltimore...Prior to the game, the A's activated shortstop Cliff Pennington from the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday. He had been on the shelf since July 20 thanks to left elbow tendinitis. To make room for Pennington on the roster, Oakland optioned pitcher Pedro Figueroa to Triple-A Sacramento...Colon moved to 10-6 in his career against the Angels.
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