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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Brian Cooper was as conscious of his
pitch count as he was of the Oakland Athletics' heavy-hitting
lineup.
The Anaheim Angels right-hander threw 123 pitches and scattered
three hits -- all singles -- in his first major league shutout as he
beat the Oakland Athletics 7-0 Friday night.
"I was thinking about that after the seventh inning," Cooper
said of his pitch count. "I went and looked at the chart and I saw
that I already had 102 pitches. Buddy (pitching coach Bud Black)
came up to me and said, 'I'll be honest with you. If you want to
finish this game, you're going to have to do it quickly.'
"I threw a few too many pitches in the eighth, and they said,
'Look, you've only got a few more pitches.' I knew if I put anybody
else on base, I was done. So I just tried to throw it right down
the middle."
Cooper (3-2) already had thrown 113 pitches when he entered the
ninth. He struck out Ramon Hernandez, retired Terrence Long on a
fly to left and got Randy Velarde to ground to third.
"That was certainly going to be his last hitter. We were close
to taking him out," said manager Mike Scioscia, who had Al Levine
warming up. "Although we'd like to give him every opportunity to
get a shutout, he's got a ton of starts left this year. So we're
not going to put those at risk. For him to go 123, that's his max
range."
Cooper ended a string of three consecutive no-decisions and a
personal five-game winless streak in his first major league
complete game. He struck out four and walked one in his 13th career
start, giving the Angels their second shutout of the season.
"I'm not the kind of guy who's going to strike people out. I've
got to rely on my defense," said Cooper, who induced 13
groundballs. "Being mainly a groundball pitcher, the infielders
have got to work hard and make plays for me. And they did."
Oakland managed just Jason Giambi's first-inning single, a
fifth-inning single by Matt Stairs off first baseman Mo Vaughn's
glove and John Jaha's eighth-inning infield single by John Jaha.
"He just threw strikes with everything he had," Athletics
manager Art Howe said. "He changed speeds well and got ahead in
the count. He did all the things a pitcher should do, and it looked
pretty easy."
Garret Anderson, who turned 28 on Friday, homered to trigger
Anaheim's five-run sixth inning and robbed Velarde of a home run in
the fourth to keep the score at 2-0.
"I didn't think it would go that far. But I knew when I got to
the wall that I had a chance," Anderson said. "Those are always
hard to judge. You have so much time and you get back there so
early that you have to judge it just right, instead of react."
Anderson led off the sixth with his 22nd homer, one more than
his previous career best, and Bengie Molina hit his seventh homer
one out later. Adam Kennedy then doubled and scored on a single by
Darin Erstad to give the Angels a 5-0 lead and chase Mark Mulder
(5-3), who allowed six runs and 10 hits in 5 2-3 innings.
Benji Gil greeted T.J. Mathews with the Angels' third homer of
the inning and the Angels' 123rd of the season _ the most they've
had before the All-Star break in the team's 40-year history. It
also was their 75th at home, one more than they hit at Edison Field
all last year.
The Angels opened the scoring in the first on Tim Salmon's
sacrifice fly. They loaded the bases later that inning on a two-out
double by Anderson and an intentional walk to Troy Glaus, who had
struck out in nine of his previous 11 at-bats. But Long raced to
the warning track in center to retire Molina with an
over-the-shoulder catch.
Mo Vaughn increased the lead to 2-0 in the second with a two-out
RBI single.
Game notes
The Angels' only other shutout this season was Scott
Schoeneweis' 6-0 three-hitter on April 10 against Toronto. ... The
Angels have hit three homers in an inning five times this season
and 23 times in club history. ... Long went 0-for-3 with a walk,
ending his hitting streak at 17 games. He settled for a share of
the Oakland record with Mike Edwards (1978) and Luis Polonia (1987)
... Erstad finished June with a .379 average, six homers, 24 RBIs
and 19 runs scored. Overall, the Angels' leadoff hitter is batting
.374 with 16 homers, 59 RBIs, 59 runs scored -- and a major
league-leading 128 hits. At this time last year, Erstad was hitting
.252 with seven homers, 22 RBIs and 78 hits. ... Angels pitcher
Jason Dickson, whose season ended prematurely after undergoing
arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder last week, got engaged
during the team's just-concluded road trip. "They're dropping like
flies," teammate Justin Baughman said to pitcher Jarrod Washburn
before the team began their pregame stretching. ... The Angels,
14-12 in June, finished their third consecutive month with a record
of .500 or better for the first time since May-July, 1995.
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