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Ellis' grand slam powers A's past Angels

Jun 9, 2008 - 1:42 AM By Michael Duca PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Mark Ellis belted a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 12th inning as the Oakland Athletics posted a 7-3 triumph over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Sunday.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th, Ellis deposited a pitch from reliever Chris Bootcheck off the foul pole in left field for his third grand slam of his career.

"That was a huge win for us, and a great way to come back and get it," Ellis said. "It's a fun moment when you come around the bases and see your teammates standing at home plate waiting for you."

Bootcheck, who has been scored upon in seven of the 10 games he's pitched this season, was subdued after the game.

"I made up my mind if they are going to beat me, it will be swinging the bats," Bootcheck said. "I threw Ellis a fastball and tried to keep it away, and I caught too much of the plate. It was a strike, and too good of a strike in that situation."

Ellis got redemption for having stranded four runners in scoring position earlier in the game.

"It's easy to stay positive - you've always got another at-bat," Ellis said. "You're always going to have another chance."

Eric Chavez had three hits and two RBI for the Athletics, who salvaged the final contest of the three-game series.

Vladimir Guerrero belted a two-run home run for the Angels, who saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end.

Brad Ziegler (1-0) earned his first major league win after holding the Angels without a hit in 1 2/3 innings. Bootcheck took the loss after allowing four runs and three hits in two-thirds of an inning.

Ziegler, whose locker is located between Street and Harden, was obviously pleased over the win.

"I have the lineup cards," he said with a broad grin. "This is not the sort of win you will ever forget. I've been trying to be as quiet and good neighbor as possible here, but now I've finally contributed something to allow me to feel like I belong between these two great pitchers."

Starting pitchers Ervin Santana and Rich Harden were long gone at the finish, but both pitched extremely well. Santana allowed two runs and seven hits while striking out nine in 6 1/3 innings. For his part, Harden allowed three runs and six hits while also striking out nine.

In fact, Harden struck out Maicer Izturis, Howie Kendrick and Garret Anderson on nine pitches, getting each of the hitters swinging. Harden had eight swinging strikeouts against Detroit in his previous start, and added nine more on Sunday.

Harden, however, was not impressed with his own performance.

"It's consistency. You can't get too up or excited over one inning," Harden said. "The fourth inning was proof. Vlad hit a changeup, down, but not down where I wanted to throw it."

Chavez opened the scoring in the first after his two-out single plated Jack Hannahan. The base-hit gave Oakland its first lead of the series and also snapped a string of 23 innings without an earned run allowed by Santana.

After Guerrero's two-run home run gave the Angels the lead in the fourth, Gary Matthews Jr. capped the three-run uprising with an RBI single to left field.

Carlos Gonzalez halved the deficit in the fourth with a run-scoring single, and Chavez leveled the contest with a double in the seventh inning.

After back-to-back one-out singles by Kendrick and Anderson brought Guerrero to the plate, Oakland manager Bob Geren came to the mound to see if Huston Street's groin was bothering him.

"We've put a lot of work in on it (the groin) - and it's a lot better," Street said, "I'm still throwing 90 miles per hour, my slider is still 82-83, I know I can get outs like that."

Anderson stole second, but Guerrero's short fly to right couldn't plate Kendrick. Street then struck out Torii Hunter with a 3-2 slider.

"We just couldn't get the key hit that might have made the difference in the game," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We haven't been getting a lot of people in scoring position lately, so you have to do the situational stuff. The last month has been very difficult for us offensively. Today, we got them on and couldn't get some guys in."