BC-BBA–Angels-Athletics,0528

Angels 6, Athletics 3

By JOSH DUBOW

AP Sports Writer

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Vladimir Guerrero homered to help Kelvim Escobar earn his first win for Anaheim in the Angels’ 6-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday.

After losing two of three at home to the A’s last weekend, the Angels have taken the first two games of this three-game series against their division rivals.

Two of Anaheim’s big offseason additions played a big part in the latest win for the Angels, who went from World Series champions in 2002 to 77 wins last season.

Guerrero hit his fifth homer of the season, and Escobar (1-1) recovered from a shaky start to pitch five innings for the victory as the Angels tied the A’s for first in the AL West.

Scot Shields, Francisco Rodriguez and Troy Percival combined for four scoreless innings of relief to finish it. Percival earned his fourth save.

Adam Kennedy went 3-for-4 with two RBIs for Anaheim.

After Oakland broke out to a 3-0 lead on back-to-back homers in the second inning by Scott Hatteberg and Erubiel Durazo, the Angels began to chip away against Mark Redman (1-1).

Kennedy tripled with one out in the third and scored on David Eckstein’s groundout. Darin Erstad followed with a single and Guerrero was hit by a pitch. Troy Glaus then hit a shot off the center-field wall that scored Erstad. Guerrero was thrown out on a close play at the plate when second baseman Frank Menechino made a perfect relay throw to Damian Miller.

Redman retired the first two batters in the fourth before Jose Molina singled. Chone Figgins followed with a smash up the third-base line that Eric Chavez made a backhand stop on. But Chavez threw wildly to first, allowing Molina to score on the error and sending Figgins to third.

Figgins, who got credit for a single on the play, scored on Kennedy’s single.

Guerrero led off the fifth with a homer to left-center to make it 5-3. Guerrero, who entered the series in a 3-for-39 slump, has four hits in the first two games of the series.

The A’s took the early lead with three straight extra-base hits to open the second. Jermaine Dye doubled and Hatteberg followed with his first homer of the season.

After narrowly missing a homer just foul down the right-field line, Durazo went the opposite way and cleared the left-field fence for his first homer to make it 3-0.

Escobar didn’t allow another hit before being replaced by Shields to start the sixth.

The A’s didn’t threaten again until the eighth when they put runners on first and third with one out, but Rodriguez struck out Dye and got Hatteberg to ground out.

Anaheim added an insurance run in the ninth when Figgins tripled and scored on Kennedy’s single.

Notes: OF Garret Anderson sat out again with a stiff upper back. It’s the first time Anderson has missed three straight games since his rookie season in 1995. … The A’s hit back-to-back homers for the first time this season. … The Angels have scored 18 runs this series after getting only seven in three games last week in Anaheim.

AP-ES-04-24-04 1845EDT