Kendry Morales leads outburst in Angels’ 12-3 victory over Athletics
That Kendry Morales hit a three-run home run to left-center field in the fourth inning of the Angels’ 12-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night in Angel Stadium was not a surprise.
The switch-hitting first baseman has the kind of power to send opposite-field drives out of the park from both sides of the plate.
That Morales hit the first of his two home runs on an inside fastball from hard-throwing 22-year-old right-hander Tyson Ross … now, that was pretty unusual.
“That ball was not really away from him,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “That ball was middle in, and he stayed inside the fastball. You have to be some kind of strong to hit a ball that way.”
Morales, as the Angels are learning, is some kind of strong.
He added a two-run home run in the seventh inning, as the Angels racked up a season-high 15 hits and a season high for runs. He has now hit 28 home runs since the 2009 All-Star break, most in the American League.
“Have you ever touched this guy?” center fielder Torii Hunter said. “He’s like a brick house. He’s rocked up, really strong. I think this organization knew what it was doing when they let Mark Teixeira go [before the 2009 season] and gave the job to Kendry.”
The rare outburst by the struggling Angels offense was much appreciated by right-hander Ervin Santana, who had received two runs of support in his previous two starts.
The right-hander continued his mastery of the A’s by giving up three runs — two earned — and seven hits in six innings, striking out six and walking three, to improve to 2-3 on the season and 11-2 with a 1.50 earned-run average in 18 career starts against Oakland.
Santana’s performance continued a revival of sorts for the Angels’ rotation, which combined for a 5.02 ERA and 25 home runs allowed in 24 games in April but has a 3.60 ERA and seven homers allowed in 14 games in May.
It also helped the Angels extend their win streak to two — only the fourth time this season they’ve won at least two games in a row — and moved them within 31/2 games of first-place Texas in the American League West.
“It was way different getting that kind of run support,” Santana said. “You get more comfortable, more confident. You can throw the ball in the strike zone and keep it down.”
In addition to Morales’ two homers, which gave him nine on the season, Bobby Abreu had three hits, two runs and an RBI, Hunter had two hits, including an RBI double in the seventh that gave him 900 career RBIs, Juan Rivera and Mike Napoli each had two hits, and Brandon Wood, who entered with a .165 average, had a hit and two RBIs.
The Angels were seven for 14 with runners in scoring position; they ranked 10th in the AL with a .247 average with runners in scoring position entering the game.
They scored three runs with two out in the fourth inning against Ross, who made an emergency start after Justin Duchscherer, who came off the disabled list Saturday, was scratched right around game time because of inflammation in his left hip.
The Angels added four runs in the fifth, a rally that was sparked by Rivera’s leadoff double, and four in the seventh, which featured Abreu’s leadoff single, Hunter’s double and Morales’ homer.
“Not that you’re always going to score 12 runs, but after the third inning, we pressured them every inning, and it came from all parts of our lineup,” Scioscia said.
“There were contributions from all through the order. Hopefully, this is a step in the right direction.”
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