Final
Athletics-Angels Preview
May 16, 2010 - 6:01 AMVideo
Oakland (18-19) at Los Angeles (17-21), 3:35 p.m. EDT
The Los Angeles Angels haven't swept a three-game home series from the Oakland Athletics in more than seven years. Joel Pineiro has endured five straight starts against Oakland without a victory.
The Angels hope to end both those droughts Sunday when Pineiro makes his first start against the Athletics since 2006.
Los Angeles (17-21) last swept three games from Oakland (18-19) in Anaheim from April 11-13, 2003, but now has a chance to do so again. Following a 4-0 victory in Friday's series opener, the Angels won 12-3 on Saturday as Kendry Morales homered twice and drove in five runs.
It was the sixth career multihomer game for Morales, who has 28 home runs since last year's All-Star break - more than any other AL player during that stretch.
"I'm not surprised. I mean, have you ever touched this guy? He's like a brick house," center fielder Torii Hunter said. "He's hard. He's strong. I think the organization knew what they were doing when they brought him up to play first base and let Mark Teixeira go."
To try to complete the sweep, Pineiro (2-4, 4.50 ERA) will face a nemesis from his days in the AL West with Seattle. The veteran right-hander posted a 10.80 ERA while losing all five starts against Oakland in 2006, his final season with the Mariners.
The Athletics, however, are an almost entirely different team now. The only healthy Oakland regular with more than four at-bats against Pineiro is Kevin Kouzmanoff, who is 2 for 9. None of those at-bats took place for the A's.
Pineiro is 0-3 with a 7.06 ERA in his last four starts. That's a bit deceiving since his last two outings have been solid - he gave up two runs over six innings May 5 in a 3-1 loss at Boston and yielded five hits over 6 1-3 scoreless innings Monday in a 5-4, 11-inning win over Tampa Bay.
"He had another strong performance," manager Mike Scioscia told the Angels' official website. "He did what he does best by using his sinker in good zones and changing speeds."
Pineiro will face an offense that has produced a total of five runs during Oakland's second four-game losing streak of the season.
The A's tried to give their lineup a boost Saturday by promoting veteran slugger Jack Cust from Triple-A Sacramento. Cust, however, went 0 for 3 and committed an error in left field when he dropped a sacrifice fly by Brandon Wood.
Trevor Cahill (1-1, 4.60) will start the series finale for Oakland after not lasting past the sixth inning in his first three outings. Cahill allowed two runs over 5 2-3 innings Tuesday in a 7-6, 13-inning win at Texas.
The right-hander went 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA in three starts against the Angels last season. Bobby Abreu and Juan Rivera each were 0 for 7 with two walks against him.
Abreu was 3 for 4 on Saturday and has hit safely in all five games against Oakland this season, going 9 for 21 with six runs scored.
- Angels 4, Athletics 0 - FINAL
OAKLAND ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Pennington ss 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .239
D Barton 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .263
R Sweeney rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .293
K Suzuki c 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .238
K Kouzmanoff 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .259
E Chavez dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .250
J Cust
May 16 5:45 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY HOWIE KENDRICK SCORED MIKE NAPOLI
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, H KENDRICK ON FIRST, 2 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 0
LA ANGELS 4 BOTTOM,8TH
DUE UP FOR LA ANGELS: B ABREU (.270, 1-FOR-3, HR, 2 RBI)
Athletics 0, Angels 4 Bot 8, 0 OutsMay 16 5:29 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY BOBBY ABREU (5) TO LEFT CENTER WITH 2
OUT IN THE 6TH OFF TREVOR CAHILL SCORED HOWIE KENDRICK.
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 0, LA ANGELS 3
DUE UP FOR LA ANGELS: T HUNTER (.284, 1-FOR-2)
Athletics 0, Angels 3 Bot 6, 0 OutsMay 16 4:57 PM - AL
AT LA ANGELS - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY HIDEKI MATSUI SCORED TORII HUNTER
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, H MATSUI ON FIRST, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 0
LA ANGELS 1 BOTTOM,2ND
DUE UP FOR LA ANGELS: M RYAN (.222, 0 HR, 0 RBI)
Athletics 0, Angels 1 Bot 2, 0 OutsMay 16 4:02 PM
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