A's unable to complete sweep, fall in 12 to Halos

ANAHEIM -- The A's 10-day, nine-game road trip ended with a loss Wednesday night, when Chris Iannetta's home run with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning off Drew Pomeranz gave the Angels a sweep-averting, 5-4 victory at Angel Stadium.
 
So the A's finished the trip 7-2 and headed home, seemingly undeterred.
 
"All of our games are grinds," third baseman Josh Donaldson said. "We expect to win those games. [The loss] is not going to change the mentality of our team. We'll come back the next game the same way."
 
Right fielder Brandon Moss said: "It happens sometimes ... things don't bounce your way. I think we, as a team, understand the situation. The way we play, we're going to win a lot more of those than we lose. We were in every single game [on the trip], in both losses we were in every single one of them."
 
The A's did not play their typical tight defense in this one, with a pair of errors and a passed ball on a strikeout, plus a couple of double plays that weren't completed. But their ability to turn the page from such things was what they all stressed.
 
"We battled hard again, and we had a couple of chances to win," manager Bob Melvin said after the A's four-game winning streak was snapped. "You're not going to win them all. You''ve got to move on. We had a good trip."
 
The A's and starter Tommy Milone took a 4-1 lead into the seventh, courtesy of Moss' three-run homer in the fourth inning off Angels starter Tyler Skaggs. But a controversial hit-by-pitch call on Iannetta that would stand after a challenge by Melvin, and a couple of A's misplays, led to two Angels runs, one unearned.
 
Luke Gregerson came on to protect a one-run lead in the ninth, but Mike Trout, who singled and hustled to third on Albert Pujols' single to center, scored the tying run on a fielder's choice grounder by Howie Kendrick.
 
"I don't think it's easy to sweep a Major League team, but I think we have the ballclub to do it," said Milone, who went six-plus and allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks with one strikeout.
 
"It's a heartbreaking loss, but you can't worry about it too much."
 
Melvin said he "thought Milone pitched great. We can't expect any more than that."
 
Moss was 1-for-5 against lefties coming in, and had never faced Skaggs before striking out in the third inning. 
 
Before the game, Melvin said he used Moss against Skaggs because right fielder Josh Reddick, who also bats left-handed, is hitting .098, and Melvin said he is going to look for better matchups for Reddick to get him going.

Only four of Moss' 30 homers in 2013 were struck against lefties. His last came on Aug. 28 at Detroit, when he hit two, off Jose Alvarez (now with the Angels) and Drew Smyly.

Moss got ahold of a 2-1 Skaggs fastball with two out to break a 1-1 tie.
 
"I had runners at second and third, with first base open and another lefty on deck," Moss said. "I didn't want to chase.
 
"He threw it down and in, where I'm looking when I'm ahead in the count."