The road has been kind to the Oakland Athletics of late and they will shoot for an 11th straight victory as the guest in the continuation of a four-game series Tuesday against the LA Angels of Anaheim.
Oakland registered its 10th win in a row on the road with Monday's series- opening 3-1 victory behind a strong pitching performance from Jarrod Parker and the bullpen. Parker held the red-hot Angels to a run and three hits in seven innings, while Ryan Cook and Grant Balfour each tossed a scoreless inning of relief. Balfour notched his 17th save.
"Jarrod was aggressive. He wasn't afraid to pitch inside," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "This was a big win for us."
The wild card-leading Athletics, who have won four straight overall, pulled within three games of AL West-leading Texas and are on their longest road winning streak since Aug. 19-28, 2002. The last time Oakland posted 11 consecutive wins as the visitor was April 9-26, 1981.
The A's are 13-3 since Aug. 24 and got home runs from Brandon Moss and Cliff Pennington in last night's win. Oakland has hit an MLB-best 81 homers since the All-Star break.
While Brandon McCarthy recovers from surgery due to a fractured skull, Daniel Straily draws the start for the A's tonight. Straily was called up from the minors to take a rotation spot and is 1-0 with a 3.18 earned run average in three starts at the majors.
He threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings in a 3-0 win at Kansas City back on Aug. 16 and did not record a decision in a 9-8 win over the Angels on Aug. 8. The Angels tagged the right-handed Straily for five runs in 4 2/3 innings.
The Angels had won six in a row and 15 of 18 games until Monday's loss. Dan Haren was tagged with the defeat for permitting three runs in 6 1/3 innings of work.
"They came out aggressive," Haren said. "You have to tip your hat."
Torii Hunter drove in the lone run and finished with one of Anaheim's four hits on the evening. The Angels are now 1 1/2 games off one of the final two wild card spots in the American League and 3-1 on a seven-game homestand.
The Angels, who are 6 1/2 games in back of Texas for the AL West's top spot, received good news on Monday pertaining to ace Jered Weaver. Weaver has been bothered by right biceps tendinitis and is expected to return to the rotation Thursday in the finale of this series with Oakland.
Weaver is 16-4 with a 2.86 ERA in 25 starts this season, but only 1-3 in his past four decisions (5 starts).
Jerome Williams will make a spot start Tuesday in place of Weaver and is 6-7 with a 4.59 ERA in 27 games, 14 of which have been starts. In seven career meetings (6 starts) with the Athletics, Williams is 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA. The righty has lost five straight decisions.
The Angels just swept the Athletics in three games last week at the Coliseum and have won six of the past nine matchups between the clubs. The season series, however, is even at eight wins apiece.
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