Colon strong as A's blank Angels
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bartolo Colon tossed eight scoreless innings as Oakland downed the Angels, 6-0, in the third portion of a four-game set at Angel Stadium.
Colon (3-1), who threw 38 consecutive strikes at one point in the game, allowed four hits and did not walk a batter while striking out five.
"I had no idea about how many strikes I threw in a row. They told me later," said Colon. "I was happy with the way I pitched tonight. I have to continue to work hard."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Yoenis Cespedes hit a three-run home run while Jonny Gomes added a solo shot and two RBI for the Athletics, who earned their second straight win on the heels of a three-game losing streak.
Ervin Santana (0-3) allowed four runs on seven hits and two walks to suffer the loss as the Angels fell to 4-8 on the season.
"This is a team with talented guys. We have to grind it out," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said about his team's slow start.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After Cliff Pennington and Josh Reddick hit back-to-back singles in the top of the first inning, Cespedes hammered a hanging 1-2 slider by Santana over the left-field wall to give the Athletics an early three-run advantage.
Gomes' bomb into the bullpen in left field in the sixth inning made it a 4-0 game.
The Angels did not have a runners reach second base in the game until Erick Aybar pulled a ground-rule double to right field with one out in the eighth inning.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Aybar then moved to third on Bobby Abreu's groundout to second, but Colon struck out Howie Kendrick to end the inning.
An RBI double by Jemile Weeks and a bases-loaded walk by Gomes in the ninth inning finalized the scoring.
Game Notes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Athletics have hit 12 home runs over their first 12 games of the season...Colon, who won a Cy Young Award while pitching for the Angels in 2005, improved to 9-5 in 19 appearances against his former team...Santana fell to 13-4 in 24 games -- 22 starts -- against Oakland.