by Jerry Feitelberg

It was the Mark Canha, Danny Valencia, and Mark Smolinski show Monday night as the trio drove in ten of the eleven runs scored by the A’s Final score 11-5 for Oakland. A’s starter Felix Doubront went six-plus innings allowing seven hits and four runs while winning his second game of the year. Angels’ starter Hector Santiago was tagged with the loss his record drops to 7-9.

The Angels scored the first run of the game in the first inning. With one out, Felix Doubront walked Mike Trout and Albert Pujols. C.J.Cron flew out to deep left field for the second out. Erick Aybar, who has a history of tormenting the A’s, singled to drive in Trout. Shane Victorino followed with a single to load the bases, but Doubront was able to strike out Chris Iannetta to end the threat.

The Angels scored two more runs in the top of the third. Singles by Pujols and Cron put men at first and third with one out. Pujols scored on an Aybar sacrifice fly. Victorino singled to advance Cron to third. Cron scored when the Angels pulled off a double steal. Phegley attempted to nail Victorino, but the throw was not in time, and Cron was able to make it home safely.

The A’s scored five times in the bottom of the third. Josh Reddick led off the inning with a double. With one out, Reddick tagged up and went to third on a long fly out to center. Santiago walked Mark Canha and Brett Lawrie to load the bases. Danny Valencia doubled down the left field line to drive in two. Josh Phegley walked to load the bases for the second time in the inning. Jake Smolinski also doubled down the left-field line to clear the bases and give the A’s the lead 5-3 after three complete.

The A’s scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-3 lead. With one out, Brett Lawrie reached on an error by Angels’ third baseman Kaleb Cowart. Danny Valencia followed with his second double of the night to drive in Lawrie all the way from first. Left fielder Shane Victorino slammed into the wall causing part of the wall to collapse. The players came off the field until the repairs were made.

The A’s scored three more runs in the bottom of the sixth. “County breakfast’ Billy Butler doubled to right center. Reddick walked, and Marcus Semien singled to left. Third base coach, Ron Washington held Butler at third. Billy Burns then hit into a  very unusual double play. He hit a sharp ground ball to third. Angel third baseman, Kaleb Cowart, stepped on third to force Reddick. Cowart threw to first but the throw was wide. Butler tried to score from third but was thrown out at the plate. Butler should have gone back to third, The next batter, Mark Canha, unloaded his eleventh home run of the year over the left-field wall to drive in Semien and Burns as well as himself. 9-3 at the end of six.

The Angels added single runs in the seventh and eighth to make it a 9-5 game. The A’s, however, came back in the bottom of the eighth to score twice and take an 11-5 lead heading into the ninth. Evan Scribner started the ninth but had to leave with an injury. The A’s brought in Drew Pomeranz and he close out the win for Oakland.

Game Notes- The A’s have won their last three games in a row while the Angels are heading south rapidly. The Angels are 2-5 on the nine-game road trip and are 11-26 in their last 37 games. . The A’s are 11-4 in their last 15 home games and are 26-27 against American League West competition.

The Angels and A’s resume the series Tuesday night at the O.co Coliseum at 7:05 pm. Cody Martin will pitch for the A’s and he will be making his first Major League start. Martin was acquired by Oakland from the Atlanta Braves in July. The twenty-five-year-old righty made 21 appearances ion relief for the Braves and had an ERA of 5.40. Matt Shoemaker will go for the Angels.

Time of game was three hours and thirty-four minutes, and 12,049 hardy souls watched the game.