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Wilson stellar as Angels blank A's

May 23, 2012 - 6:22 AM Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - C.J. Wilson tossed eight scoreless innings and allowed just one hit as the Los Angeles Angels shut down the Oakland A's, 5-0, in the middle game of a three-game series on Tuesday.

Wilson (5-4) struck out seven and walked two while throwing 75 of his 125 pitches for strikes to earn the victory. Ernesto Frieri came on in the ninth and closed it out to complete the shutout.

"I just tried to stay within myself and tried to stay ahead of the hitters," Wilson said.

Albert Pujols crushed a solo home run and knocked in two runs, Mark Trumbo and Howie Kendrick each had an RBI single and Erick Aybar also added an RBI for the Angels, who snapped a three-game skid.

Cliff Pennington had Oakland's only hit of the contest -- a base hit over the glove of Kendrick at second as the Athletics had their two-game winning streak halted.

Graham Godfrey (0-4), who was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento prior to the game, allowed four runs on six hits and three walks in just three innings to take the loss.

Los Angeles jumped on top early by plating three runs in its first at-bat and rolled from there. Mike Trout began the game with a walk and Maicer Izturis followed with a base hit to put runners on the corners. Pujols then lofted a fly ball to left to bring home Trout for the first run of the contest. Kendrys Morales walked and Trumbo and Kendrick ripped back-to-back RBI singles to give Los Angeles a comfortable three-run advantage.

After Izturis struck out to start the Angels third, Pujols took the first pitch from Godfrey for a ball, but got a middle-in fastball on the second pitch of the at-bat and quickly got the bat head out front and launched it into the left field seats to extend the Angels' lead to 4-0.

Los Angeles capped the scoring in the seventh when Morales reached on a error by Josh Donaldson and went first-to-third on a single by Trumbo before Kendrick walked to load the bases. Morales was then able to trot home after Aybar was hit by a pitch.

"When a guy's throwing the ball well and some guys hit balls hard that don't find holes, he can get into a rhythm," Pennington said of Wilson's outing. "Once he did that it was tough for us."

Game Notes

To make room on the Oakland roster for Godfrey, the club optioned pitcher Pedro Figueroa to Sacramento...Entering play on Tuesday, the A's had won five of the last six games between the teams in Oakland...Since being acquired from the Padres on May 3, Frieri has not allowed a hit in eight relief appearances (7 2/3 innings)...Oakland did not have a runner reach second base all game.