Singles night: A's ride 6 straight hits in 7-run 5th to down Angels

ANAHEIM – The Athletics appeared to have no answer for Angels starting pitcher Walbert Ureña through the first four innings Friday.

Things changed quickly for the A’s in the fifth when they rattled off six consecutive singles and scored seven runs in 11 minutes in a 9-3 win over the Angels at Angel Stadium.

The outburst came after the A’s didn’t have a baserunner in the first four innings against Ureña, who pitched five scoreless innings in his last start against the A’s on June 20.

“He was dominant for four innings," said A's manager Mark Kotsay. "He’s been dominant all year against us, really. I think we did a good job of making an adjustment during the fifth inning. We got more patient, drew a walk or two, put some hits together. The plan tonight was to get the ball up in the zone. During the fifth, I think we took advantage of some mistakes up in the zone.”

Tyler Soderstrom and Lawrence Butler drew walks off Ureña, and the floodgates opened. The next six A’s hitters singled, and five of them drove in runs.

After Max Muncy singled, Jeff McNeil hit a two-run single to give the A’s a 2-1 lead. Alika Williams subsequently singled and advanced to second on a throwing error by Josh Lowe.

Henry Bolte hit a two-run single, and Nick Kurtz snapped a 0-for-15 streak with an RBI single to extend the Athletics’ lead to 6-1. Shea Langeliers drove in Kurtz with a single to make the score 7-1 before Ureña was pulled from the game.

The run support was plenty for J.T. Ginn, who threw eight no-hit innings at Angel Stadium on May 18 before allowing a walk-off home run to Zach Neto with no outs in the ninth in a 2-1 loss.

Ginn allowed eight hits Friday, but limited the Angels to just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. He allowed three runs in six innings with five strikeouts and one walk to earn his sixth win of the season.

Ginn was feeling ill prior to the game but said he felt better the deeper he got into the start.

"Definitely at the start of the game I was a little wheezy out there, but by the time I got to like the fourth inning I felt pretty good,” Ginn said. “It’s always a fun time to go out there and compete against them whether it’s at home or here. I like the ballpark. I like the mound, so it’s good.”

“He likes pitching here. He’s had a lot of success,” Kotsay said. “It’s a good sign when he’s not feeling great and gives us six innings.”

Ginn gave up a double on a bloop hit by Wade Meckler in the fourth inning. Meckler advanced to third on the first of two passed balls by Langeliers in the game and later scored on an RBI single by Donovan Walton.

The other blemish on Ginn’s night came on a two-run home run to Jo Adell in the fifth inning to cut the Athletics’ lead to 7-3.

Kurtz drove in his second run of the game in the seventh with an RBI single, and he later scored on a ground-rule double by Jonah Heim to extend the lead to 9-3.

Kurtz, Bolte and McNeil each had two RBIs, and all but one of the Athletics’ 10 hits were singles.

The Angels loaded the bases in the eighth inning, but Hogan Harris struck out Logan O’Hoppe and Christian Moore to keep the six-run lead intact.

"Hogan has pitched in some big moments for us,” Kotsay said. “Obviously you never want to walk a leadoff guy when you come in there, but with the bases loaded, two big punchouts, it’s something that we’ve seen from him.”