OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- John Halama made a solid first impression. Erubiel Durazo continued to be impressive.
John Halama pitched 5 2/3 strong innings in his debut for his new team and Durazo continued his strong start, lifting the Oakland Athletics to a 4-2 victory over the Anaheim Angels.
Halama (1-0) won a spot in the vaunted Oakland rotation despite a rough spring training. The lefthander put his March struggles behind him as he limited the Angels to an unearned run and five hits, walking two and striking out three in improving to 8-1 lifetime against Anaheim.
"I just went out there, bore down and really concentrated on every pitch and I didn't think of anything," Halama said. "I just thought about location, locating my pitches where I had to locate them. The results were good today."
"He was tremendous today," Oakland manager Ken Macha said. "He had command inside and mixed up his pitches very well. He kept their hitters off-balance and we made good plays behind him."
Jeremy Fikac followed by allowing a run in two innings and Ricardo Rincon retired one batter before Keith Foulke worked a perfect ninth for his first save.
Acquired in a four-team trade in the offseason, Durazo continued to be a force for Oakland, delivering an RBI double in the seventh inning to give the A's a 3-1 lead. He has 11 RBI in five games.
Angels starter Jarrod Washburn (0-1), who had his first appearance of the season pushed back after battling a shoulder sprain during spring training, surrendered four runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings. The lefthander struck out three without a walk.
"I thought I threw pretty well, made a couple of mistakes," Washburn said. "Overall, I'm pleased with my performance. I think I ran out of gas a little bit there in the last inning falling behind guys and putting myself in a hole against a good lineup like that."
Washburn's season got off to an inauspicious start. He struck out Mark Ellis to start the bottom of the first before Adam Piatt sent a 2-2 pitch over the left field wall to give Oakland the early lead.
The Angels got even in the second. Benji Gil reached second on a throwing error by shortstop Miguel Tejada with one out. Gil stole third and came home on Eric Owens' infield hit.
Owens stole second but Halama worked out of trouble by getting David Eckstein to fly out to shallow center field.
Piatt also was in the middle of things in the third. After Ramon Hernandez led off with a single, Piatt doubled to left field one out later. Tejada grounded out to first to plate Hernandez and give the A's a 2-1 lead.
Halama received some help from his defense to preserve the lead in the fourth.
With runners on first and second and one out, Tim Salmon hit a shallow flyball to right field that second baseman Ellis made a diving catch on. Garret Anderson lined out to Tejada to end the inning.
"He (Salmon) hit it out in no man's land and Jermaine Dye wasn't able to get to it because of how shallow it was hit and the only one who could've gotten it was Ellis and he made the diving play so we got out of it," Halama said. "Great play. It's the only thing you can say in a situation like that."
In the sixth, Halama again found himself in trouble after Troy Glaus led off with a single and Scott Spiezio reached on an error by Durazo at the first base. Gil sacrificed to move the runners into scoring position with one out.
Halama got Bengie Molina to pop out to second for the second out. A lefthander, Fikac relieved and retired Owens on a grounder to shortstop to end the inning.
"Well, we had opportunities to win and we didn't execute," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We had some opportunities with guys in scoring position; hit some balls that didn't fall in. That's just baseball. It's just going to take a little better execution on our part."
Washburn retired 11 straight batters before Dye led off the bottom of the seventh with a double into the right-center field fap. Durazo followed with a double over the head of center fielder Darin Erstad, giving the A's a 3-1 lead.
"I felt good out there and it was great moment. I've got to keep doing that," Durazo said.
"Durazo is going to help them," Washburn said. "That ball he hit off me in the seventh inning I think is the hardest ball ever hit off me. It got to the wall in about four-tenths of a second."
After Ron Gant flied out, Eric Byrnes singled to put runners on the corners. Hernandez lofted a sacrifice fly to deep left field, making it 4-1.
Glaus hit his second homer of the season with one out in the eighth inning to cap the scoring.
