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 David Murphy's pinch-hit line-drive single to left field in the
bottom of the ninth inning lifted Los Angeles to a 5-4 win over the
Oakland A's on Monday night at Angel Stadium, giving the Angels
their sixth win in a row.
"Seems like it, right?" Angels starter Hector Santiago said when
asked if it felt like something special was happening with the club.
With the win, the Angels remained a half-game behind the Houston
Astros for the American League's second wild-card spot. But while
the Astros won, the Texas Rangers lost, allowing both the Astros and
Angels to move closer to the AL West division leader. The Astros are
1 1/2 games out; the Angels are two games out with six games to
play.
"There's a lot of character in here," said Murphy, who came to the
Angels in a trade with the Indians on July 28. "The way we've played
the last week or so, the way we've grinded through injuries to our
bullpen, we've had different guys come up big. I just think the
never-say-die attitude, there's so much that goes in to that and the
results truly reveal the character of this team."
Angels first baseman C.J. Cron, who had three hits in the game, got
the winning rally started in the ninth with a single to center off
A's reliever Edward Mujica. Third baseman David Freese followed with
a dribbler up the third-base line. Mujica fielded the ball cleanly
but his throw hit Freese in the back for an error, pinch runner
Collin Cowgill going to third and Freese taking second on the play.
After an intentional walk to left fielder Shane Victorino, A's
manager Bob Melvin brought in lefty Fernando Abad to face Murphy. On
a 2-2 pitch, Murphy lined the ball past a diving Marcus Semien at
shortstop for his eighth career walk-off hit.
"It's fun to be in a situation like that, especially with what's
going on in the season right now," Murphy said. "It may seem like a
pressure-packed situation, but I feel like it's really not. I think
the key right there is just to slow the game down. It's easy to get
too hyped up right there and speed things up but I think that's when
things go wrong."
Trevor Gott (4-2), one of four Angels relievers, earned the win over
Mujica (3-5).
Down 3-2 in the top of the sixth, Oakland scored twice to take a 4-3
lead and knock Santiago out of the game. But the A's couldn't string
together some hits in the final three innings and finished 1-for-8
with runners in scoring position in the game.
"When you play close games like that it shows up," Melvin said of
club's failures in key situations late in games. "We've seen it
often this year. It comes down to us not getting a big hit late in
the game, making an error, and them getting a big hit."
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Before Murphy's big hit, the Angels got a big hit from Albert
Pujols, who tied the game in the bottom of the sixth with solo
homer, his 38th of the season. It also was his 90th RBI of the
season, Pujols joining Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Alex Rodriguez as
the only players in major league history to have at least 14 90-RBI
seasons.
With the worst record in the American League, the A's at least have
a chance to impact the playoff race. Their last 10 games have been
against playoff contenders -- the Astros, Rangers, Giants and now
the Angels -- but have lost eight of them.
"We'd enjoy them more if we were winning the games," Melvin said.
"It's certainly ups the intensity. We've been playing some pretty
decent games, they've been close games, we just haven't been coming
through at the end when we need to."
NOTES: The Angels signed RHP Mat Latos to a major league contract
and activated him for the game. Latos, who was designated for
assignment last week by the Dodgers, helps give the Angels some
much-needed pitching depth because of injuries to both starters and
relievers. Latos, 4-10 with a 4.95 ERA in 22 games (21 starts)
combined with the Marlins and Dodgers this year, could serve as a
long reliever or spot starter. He would not be eligible for the
playoffs. ... A's RHP Sonny Gray, originally scheduled to start
Wednesday, instead was scratched and will not pitch again this
season. Gray, who left the game in his start last Friday because of
tightness in his left hip, went 14-7 with a 2.73 ERA and will be
replaced by LHP Barry Zito. ... Angels CF Mike Trout entered the
game without an error all season, covering 411 total chances. ...
The A's began the night 28-51 in games decided by two runs or fewer,
the worst in the majors.
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