ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- The Anaheim Angels had an answer for the Oakland Athletics.
Eric Owens delivered a pinch two-run single to highlight a five-run sixth inning, lifting the Angels to a 9-4 victory over the Atheltics.
After the A's scored four times in the top of the sixth, the defending world champions responded in the bottom of the inning, with Owens coming through with the biggest hit.
Hitting for Jose Molina, Owens stroked a line drive into right field off Ricardo Rincon to snap a 4-4 tie. Troy Glaus and David Eckstein also had run-scoring singles in the inning and Chone Figgins lofted a sacrifice fly.
"Our offense is built around the style that we showed in the sixth as opposed to the three-run homer," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "Our guys at the plate didn't panic."
"We had the lead and they just went out and took it back," A's manager Ken Macha said. "They get a bunch of singles in a row and then boom, they have a rally. Before you know it, they score a bunch of runs."
Garret Anderson belted a three-run homer in the third for the Angels, who have followed a four-game losing streak by winning four in a row.
Ben Weber (1-0) worked 2 2/3 perfect innings of relief for the win.
Oakland starter John Halama (1-1), who beat Anaheim in his first start, took the loss after giving up six runs - three earned - and five hits in five-plus innings.
Halama got himself in trouble in the third by committing a throwing error on a grounder by Darin Erstad with two outs and walking Tim Salmon. After getting behind 2-1 in the count, the soft-tossing lefthander grooved a pitch that Anderson deposited over the right field wall for his first homer of the season.
Angels starter Mickey Callaway cruised through the first five innings, scattering four hits before the A's got to him in the sixth.
Miguel Tejada reached on an infield hit with one out and Eric Chavez walked. Jermaine Dye followed with a run-scoring single and Scioscia wasted no time going to his bullpen.
Lefthander Scott Schoeneweis relieved and left-handed hitting Erubiel Durazo greeted him with an RBI single, pulling the A's within 3-2. Terrence Long doubled in a run to tie it and, after an intentional walk to Ramon Hernandez, Ron Gant lofted a sacrifice fly to give the A's the lead.
But the Angels responded in the bottom of the inning, scoring five times while banging out five hits.
Salmon started the rally with a single and went to third on a base hit by Anderson. Glaus beat an infield shift and reached on an infield hit to second base to plate Salmon with the tying run.
Rincon relieved Halama and Scott Spiezio sacrificed. An intentional walk to pinch hitter Shawn Wooten set the stage for Owens, who laced a 2-0 pitch into right field to give the Angels a 6-4 lead.
"I thrive on situational hitting," Owens said. "You want to make sure that you get a pitch to hit to the outfield. When you get a pitch to hit it's even better."
"My pitches weren't very good today," Rincon said. "I couldn't throw my best pitch (slider) because it was 2-0. I had to throw the fastball."
Figgins' sacrifice fly extended the lead before Eckstein capped the inning with a run-scoring single, giving the Angels an 8-4 lead. Glaus provided the final margin with an RBI double in the seventh.
"We had that one good push, that one good inning," Chavez said. "The next inning is where you have to come back and put a zero on the board."
