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Piazza, Ellis help A's crush Angels in opener

Jul 24, 2007 - 6:42 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Mike Piazza homered and drove in a season-high four runs to help the Oakland Athletics coast to a 12-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Monday night.

Mark Ellis homered twice had had three RBI and Shannon Stewart and Marco Scutaro added two runs apiece for Oakland, which has just three wins in its last 14 games.

Oakland (46-52) is just 6-13 in the month of July and has only scored a total of 27 runs in its 10 games since returning from the All-Star break.

"We just have to keep going out there and playing good baseball to try and get back in the race," Athletics manager Bob Geren said.

But the Athletics' offensive was on full display in this one.

"Just trying to get our offense going lately and it was good to get early runs," Geren said. "Good night for the offense."

Ellis and Scutaro both plated runs during an impressive four-run first-inning off Angels starter Bartolo Colon (6-6), who left after the frame with right elbow irritation and will be examined by the team's doctor on Tuesday.

"We hope after he (Colon) gets examined (Tuesday) that everything will be OK," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "Hopefully he will just need some rest."

Piazza ripped a run-scoring double in the second and stroked a three-run blast - his second this season - in the fourth as the A's created a 9-2 cushion. It was Piazza's first four RBI outing since July 14, 2006 against Atlanta.

"I'm just trying to find a consistent approach," Piazza said. "I have been seeing the ball better and I got some good pitches to hit up in the zone."

Ellis homered in the third against Dustin Moseley and added his 11th in the sixth off Chris Bootcheck for a 12-5 lead. Stewart had a two-run single in the fifth

"We have all been working really hard in batting practice and it's good to see some results," Ellis said. "We have to face two more tough pitchers in the series so hopefully we can just keep it going."

Oakland's Joe Kennedy (3-8) tossed two scoreless innings for the win. A's starter Chris Gaudin gave up five runs and six hits in 3 2/3 frames. The 24-year-old righthander walked six for the second straight game and struck out four while throwing 100 pitches.

"I just missed with a lot of my pitches," Gaudin said. "I felt like I was being squeezed and I was throwing good pitches. I just have to put this one behind me and move on."

Mike Napoli hit his ninth homer in the second and All-Star Vladimir Guerrero had an RBI single in the third for the Angels, who have dropped three of four games overall.