Jered Weaver rocky as Angels play Athletics to a draw

PHOENIX — Angels starter Jered Weaver knew it would be a long afternoon when he walked the leadoff hitter on four pitches Saturday. And it went downhill from there with the team’s opening-day starter giving up eight runs on six hits –- including three home runs -– in two innings.

The Angels eventually rallied to take the lead in the ninth inning, only to give up four more runs in the bottom of the inning to settle for a wild 13-13 tie with the Oakland Athletics at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

The tie was the fourth of the spring for the Angels (4-12-4), and it lasted 3 hours 44 minutes.

“It was one of those days where you try to make adjustments and something still didn’t feel right,” said Weaver, who also committed a balk. “I didn’t have a feel for any of my pitches. Fastball command was terrible. Everything was up and flat.

“Everything feels good but you feel like you don’t really have much behind the ball.”

Weaver said he might be suffering from a spring nemesis, the dead-arm period, when a pitcher’s arm suddenly becomes fatigued.

“Everything feels healthy,” said Weaver, who finished his day by throwing 20 pitches in the bullpen. “But you hear stories about guys who have no control or no feel for what’s going on out there. And that’s definitely what it was today.”

And speaking of the bullpen, seven relievers followed Weaver to the mound, with four of them holding the Athletics scoreless, including left-hander Sean Burnett, who faced just three batters in his inning of work, and right-hander David Carpenter, who pitched a perfect sixth, striking out two.

Carpenter has allowed a run in just one of eight appearances this spring.

On offense the Angels had a spring-high 18 hits, three of them coming from Alberto Callaspo, who also scored once and drove in two runs.

Catcher Hank Conger had two hits before leaving in the fifth inning with a cramp in his left hand. Luis Rodriguez and Alex Yarbrough each had a pair of hits, Kaleb Cowart had three RBIs and J.B. Shuck scored twice.

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