Jarrod Parker helps Oakland Athletics beat Los Angeles Angels 3-1 – MLB Update
Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-1 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California on Monday, September 10 in the opening game of their four match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Starting pitcher Jarrod Parker looked in commanding form on Tuesday evening as he pitched seven outstanding innings to play a key role in deciding the outcome of the contest. Overall, he gave up just four hits and a run to grab his tenth win of the season.
Relief pitchers Ryan Cook and Grant Balfour combined to pitch two scoreless inning to help Oakland hold on to their two run lead.
"They were aggressive as well, so I tried to get some early contact, early outs," Parker said. "It's fun. These are the kind of starts that we need, and everybody is going to feed off this kind of energy."
Right fielder Seth Smith put the A’s on the board with an RBI ground out to first in the first inning. First baseman Brandon Moss made the most of scoring opportunities as he smacked a home-run to right in the fifth inning. Cliff Pennington also connected
for single run shot in the sixth inning.
"It was definitely a big game for us," Pennington said in a post game interview. "They came into our place and did what they needed to do, so we needed to come in here that way. This was a good start. Right now, every game is huge. There's one or two differences
in every game."
In some ways, it was a huge win for the Athletics who are now just four games behind the American League West Division standings table. Angels, on the other hand, are two games behind the Athletics. It seems the competition for the AL West title is going
to be fierce.
The team with a better temperament will eventually come out on top. The win against their arch rivals will certainly add to the A’s confidence. It will be interesting to see if they can stretch their winning streak to replace Texas Rangers at the top of
standings table.
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