A's 10, Angels 5
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Oakland A's began their warmup for the postseason with a 10-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels Monday night at Angel Stadium.
With their second consecutive American League West division title already secured, the A's got home runs from Jed Lowrie and Brandon Moss and moved within one game of Boston for the best record in the American League. Josh Reddick, Josh Donaldson and Coco Crisp added two hits apiece for the A's, who had 13 hits in all.
A's starter Tommy Milone (12-9) gave up five runs (two earned) on five hits and one walk in 5 1/3 innings to get the win. He struck out eight, the most for Milone since he struck out 10 Angels on May 1.
Angels starter Garrett Richards (7-7) lost for the first time in five starts, giving up seven runs on eight hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings.
The Angels had only six hits, but two of them came from Howie Kendrick, who drove in four runs with a solo homer and a three-run double.
The A's took a 2-0 lead against Richards in the second inning on an RBI double by Seth Smith and an RBI single by Stephen Vogt. The Angels got a run back in their half of the second on Kendrick's solo home run, his first home run since July 6.
Oakland, though, answered in the top of the third in a big way. After Crisp and Donaldson opened the inning with singles, Lowrie hit a three-run homer, his 15th of the season, to put the A's up 5-1.
But the Angels responded again in their half of the third inning. They loaded the bases with one out against Milone with Mike Trout coming up. Milone got what seemed to be a big out when he struck out Trout, but Kendrick followed with a three-run double to narrow the A's lead to 5-4.
Richards, though, gave up another home run, a two-run blast by Moss that gave Oakland a 7-4 lead in the top of the fifth. Richards didn't make it out of the inning, going 4 2/3 innings and allowing seven runs on eight hits and two walks.
NOTES: A's LF Yoenis Cespedes tested his sore right shoulder by throwing in the outfield before the game. Cespedes, who had a cortisone shot in the shoulder last week, has been limited to DH duty lately and was not in the lineup. The A's will try to get Cespedes in some games in left field this week in preparation for the playoffs. ... A's 1B Daric Barton entered the game hitting .319 (23-for-72) with two homers and 10 RBIs since being called up from Triple-A Sacramento on Aug. 26. ... Angels RHP Jered Weaver threw a bullpen session to test his right forearm. He missed his last scheduled start on Friday because of a tight forearm, but if he comes out of Monday's session OK, he'll make his final start of the season on Wednesday against the A's. ... Angels 2B Grant Green has been working out at third base recently in anticipation of competing for the starting job next spring. Green played mostly shortstop in college and the minor leagues.
