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A's use five-run eighth to edge Angels

Aug 4, 2007 - 6:34 AM By Ryan Leong PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) - Despite two home runs from Vladimir Guerrero for the second straight game, his throwing error proved to be more costly.

Mike Piazza's infield single in the bottom of the eighth started a five-run rally as the Oakland Athletics battled back to beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 8-4, on Friday night.

Oakland trailed, 4-3, in the eighth before storming back. Piazza singled off Scot Shields (3-4) and Marco Scutaro singled to Guerrero in right field, but instead of throwing the ball back to the infield, Guerrero threw to first but the errant throw eluded first baseman Robb Quinlan. Pinch runner J.J. Furmaniak alertly watched the play and scored the tying run from third while Scutaro advanced to second.

"It skipped, hit off my glove and just went away," Quinlan said. "Obviously it (stinks), that's the tying run right there and it's not a good feeling at the time. Everything was right and a ball that skipped and I missed it. It could have went either way but the bottom line is we didn't get it done. It's a game we thought we should've won and we ended up losing."

Dan Johnson then lined a double to left-center to plate Scutaro for the go-ahead run. After rookie Kurt Suzuki was hit by a pitch, Donnie Murphy stroked an RBI single to left to chase Shields.

"The ball was coming out of my hand fine," Shields said. "I had an infield hit, a bloop hit and then I started getting hit around a little bit. I pitched like crap, you (the media) can write whatever the heck you guys want because I deserve it."

"Shieldsy was about as locked in as he's ever been for a long time and you're going to have some games that aren't going to go as planned," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "(Friday) was one of those nights but he'll get back on track. There's always going to be a handful of games where a guy isn't quite where he needs to be, maybe he doesn't get the job done but he's going to be fine."

Rookie Travis Buck capped the five-run uprising with a two-run double against Greg Jones to make it 8-4.

Reliever Santiago Casilla (3-1) picked up the win in relief for the A's, who have won seven of their 11 meeting in the season series against the Angels.

"We always seem to have good games with them and play them tough," Athletics manager Bob Geren said. "They're usually close games, the intensity level is up and for some reason so far this year, we have the edge in the series but we still have quite a few more games and we'd like to continue that."

Oakland jumped out to an early 3-0 lead as Mark Kotsay, Jack Cust and Piazza all drove in runs in the third inning off starter Dustin Moseley.

However, Guerrero hit a two-run homer - his 17th - to the opposite field in the sixth inning to tie the game at 3-3. The All-Star outfielder has homered four times in the past two games after having gone 30 games and 124 at-bats without a home run.

In the top of the eighth, Casilla's decision to pitch to Guerrero turned out to be a bad idea as he tattooed a hanging slider to the seats in left field for a 4-3 advantage.

It's the second time Guerrero has hit back-to-back two-home run games in his career.

"Vlad came up in a big way, last night and tonight and unfortunately we couldn't take advantage of it," Scioscia said. "When he gets locked in, he's capable of doing the things we're seeing."

"It was an emotional roller coaster, I was rolling and that pitch was on the black, it was up a little bit," A's starter Lenny DiNardo said. "To anybody else it might have been a good pitch but for Vlad, that pitch is dangerous, I've got to throw a ball right there, either bounce it or throw it a foot outside."

DiNardo gave up three runs and five hits in six innings. He had his usual assortment of offspeed pitches and his sinker was inducing the Angels to hit into 10 ground-ball outs.

"I felt good, felt like I was getting some bad swings which is what I'm looking for on the cutter inside and the changeup," DiNardo said. "I felt like I was throwing it for strikes."

A converted starter making his third start this season, Moseley allowed three runs and four hits with three strikeouts and three walks in 5 1/3 frames.