• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Offensive explosion propels A's to rout of Angels

May 2, 2008 - 6:01 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- After seeing the Oakland Athletics reach their season high in runs twice in the same series, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will be happy to see their division rival leave town.

Jack Cust overcame a fielding blunder with a solo homer that triggered an eight-run fifth inning Thursday, powering the A's to a 15-8 victory over the Angels.

Despite drawing a four-game split with Oakland, Anaheim was outscored, 30-18, in the series between the top two teams in the American League West. The 15 runs surpassed the offensive output they mustered in their 14-2 series-opening rout of the Angels.

"Any time you can go on the road and split against a team like the Angels is good," A's starter Justin Duchscherer said.

With the game tied at 6-6 after four innings, Cust led off the fifth with a solo shot off reliever Dustin Moseley (1-3).

Los Angeles was the only AL opponent Cust had never homered against.

"I have started to feel more comfortable at the plate lately and I'm starting to get more confidence," Cust said. "It's only a matter of time when everything starts clicking."

Bobby Crosby and Jack Hannahan each recorded base hits before Ryan Sweeney plated Crosby with an RBI single, ending Moseley's short relief appearance trailing, 8-6.

Reliever Darren O'Day recorded the first two outs of the inning without incident, but he could not finish the frame as the next five Oakland hitters reached base, highlighted by two-run singles from Frank Thomas and Crosby, whose hit closed the book on O'Day.

"It just seemed like no matter who we sent out there to throw, their club was hitting a ball hard somewhere," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

Oakland ended its prolific inning when Cust scored on a wild pitch from Chris Bootcheck, leaving the A's ahead, 14-6.

With the exception of Mark Ellis, each Oakland starter scored a run and recorded an RBI in the rout.

"This was a total team effort tonight with a lot of positives to take away from it," A's manager Bob Geren said.

The eight-run frame more than made up for Cust's inability to field a routine fly ball with two outs in the third, leading to five unearned runs against Duchscherer (2-1).

Holding a 4-0 lead, Duchscherer retired the first two batters of the second and looked to be on his way to an easy 11-pitch inning before Cust - normally the team's designated hitter - had a fly ball off the bat of Garret Anderson pop out of his glove.

"I just missed it, plain and simple," Cust said. "Good thing for me that it didn't cost us the game since we put up enough runs to win the game."

The next five batters reached base, capped off by an RBI single from Gary Matthews Jr. that gave the Angels a 5-4 lead.

"For me to watch that inning was disastrous," Duchscherer said. "Everyone makes errors, and when that happens I just try to step up my game and get the next guy out, but it was a snowball effect in that inning."

In all, Duchscherer allowed six runs - one earned - and six hits with a walk and six strikeouts over five innings for the win.

Anaheim Nick Adenhart had a largely forgettable major league debut after retiring the first four batters he faced. The Angels' top prospect, who went 4-0 with an 0.87 ERA in five minor league starts this season, surrendered five runs and three hits with five walks over just two innings.

"I definitely had nerves going out there for the first time, but that's no reason for my poor outing," Adenhart said. "I just couldn't find the strike zone and walks will hurt you every time."