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LOS ANGELES (AP) – Jared Walsh’s 12th homer sparked a four-run second inning, four relievers combined for six scoreless innings and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics 4-2 on Sunday.
David Fletcher doubled twice and had two RBIs. Taylor Ward added two hits to help the Angels win their second straight for a split of the four-game series with their division-leading rivals.
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“Kind of a nicely intense game, intense series. I loved it,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “We have to know we can win here. That’s important.”
Matt Olson and Sean Murphy drove in runs for the A’s. Oakland ended its streak of two games without an extra-base hit but failed to capitalize on Angels starter José Quintana’s early command issues.
José Suarez (2-0) pitched three hitless innings of relief to win after Quintana left with a sore shoulder. Steve Cishek retired three batters and
Mike Mayers set down two. Raisel Iglesias recorded the last four outs for his ninth save.
Maddon praised Suarez for shutting down an A’s lineup that went into the day tied for second in the AL with 70 home runs.
“To me he’s the star of the game,” Maddon said. “I know we had the lead at that point with a lot of game left, and he settled the whole thing down and permitted us to use the bullpen how we wanted to. Give him a lot of credit.”
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Walsh homered off Cole Irvin (3-7). Kurt Suzuki and Ward followed with consecutive singles and after Kean Wong’s sacrifice, both scored on
Fletcher’s double down the left-field line. Phil Gosselin singled to make it 4-0.
Irvin allowed four runs and six hits in six innings with three strikeouts. The lefty is winless since May 4.
The A’s scored twice in the third when Quintana walked three straight after Fletcher’s throwing error from shortstop on Mark Canha’s leadoff grounder. Murphy had a sacrifice fly.
“Just quiet offensively,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “Going into the eighth we only had two hits. Offensively, it’s not enough. The last couple of games we had some opportunities. Just didn’t come through as much as we’d like to.”
Quintana, whose last victory came Sept. 5, 2019, while with the Cubs, had five strikeouts and four walks in three innings before coming out with soreness in his pitching shoulder. He allowed two hits and a pair of unearned runs.
“It hurts really bad,” Quintana said. “No excuses. It’s really frustrating for me when you take a lead like that, a beautiful Sunday, and start to feel like that. Let’s see what the doctor (says) when they check me tomorrow. Hopefully it’s inflammation.”
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