Athletics 0 - 4 Angels
Final
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Angels beat A's, lead AL West by 3

Aug 30, 2014 - 5:57 AM Anaheim, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Jered Weaver threw seven shutout innings for his 15th win of the season and the Angels beat the Athletics again, 4-0 Friday night to increase their lead to three games atop the AL West.

Weaver (15-7) joined Detroit's Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer in a three-way tie for the AL lead in wins after giving up just three hits and three walks.

"It's nice to get run support and great defense behind you," said Weaver. "A nice win we much needed."

The Angels captured the opener of the four-game series 4-3 in 10 innings on Thursday night and have won four in a row.

Chris Iannetta hit a two-run homer and drew a bases-loaded walk to knock in another run, and Albert Pujols added a solo blast.

A's center fielder Coco Crisp was injured crashing into the wall in an attempt to catch Iannetta's homer in the fifth inning, which broke a scoreless tie. He left the game with a neck injury.

"We were worried about a concussion, but it's a neck strain," said A's manager Bob Melvin. "We'll see how he is tomorrow."

Jon Lester (13-9) lost for the second time in an Oakland jersey after giving up three runs -- two earned -- over six innings. He allowed six hits, one walk and struck out five.

Weaver also beat the A's in his last start on Sunday but didn't make it out of the seventh inning in a 9-4 Angels win.

"It's really tough for a pitcher to face a team consecutively in five days," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "There's no doubt a real chess match goes on. I thought Weaver had much better stuff tonight than in Oakland (Sunday)."

Weaver faced the minimum through 3 2/3 innings Friday with a walk and a double play in the third before giving up a double to Josh Donaldson. Mike Trout then saved a run by racing to catch Stephen Vogt's drive at the wall in left-center to end the fourth.

The game was scoreless into the bottom of the fifth, when Erick Aybar led off with a single and scored on Iannetta's homer.

Crisp had the ball in his glove but lost it as he crashed into the wall. There was some confusion on the play over whether or not he came down with the ball and it took several moments for a home run to be called.

"I looked for a pitch over the plate to hit," said Iannetta. "It was a great play by Coco. Fortunately for us the wall knocked it out of his glove."

The A's made trouble for themselves with consecutive two-out mistakes in the sixth that led to an Angels run -- Donaldson's error at third base and shortstop Eric Sogard's airmailed throw to first. Aybar followed with a bunt single and Iannetta walked in an eight-pitch at-bat to force in a run.

Pujols homered off Evan Scribner with two outs in the seventh inning, blasting a fastball into the Angels bullpen behind left field.

Joe Smith and Huston Street worked around one single each in the eighth and ninth innings to preserve the win for Weaver.

Game Notes

Weaver struck out three. He is 3-0 in his last four starts (the Angels have won all four games) and 8-1 over his last 14 ... It was Iannetta's sixth home run of the season and Pujols' 24th ... Before Pujols homered in the seventh, he argued to reverse a call at first base in the top of the inning after Gordon Beckham threw high to first base on Sogard's bunt. Pujols leapt to make the catch and attempted a behind-the-back tag on Sogard while he was still in the air. The safe call on the field was upheld.






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