A's 12-game road steak ends with loss to Angels

The Athletics' left-hander did all he could to match zeros with Jered Weaver through six innings before it fell apart.

Torii Hunter triggered a six-run seventh with a leadoff homer against Anderson and capped the rally with an RBI single, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 6-0 victory Thursday and ending the Athletics' 12-game road winning streak.

"Obviously, you knew it was going to be a tough day, going up against one of the best pitchers in baseball. But you want to go out there and prove yourself and try to match him pitch for pitch," Anderson said after his ERA rose from 0.69 to 1.93.

"I was able to do that through six, but I got a little tired in the seventh and fell behind," he added. "But for the most part, I was happy with the way I battled and got out of some jams."

Anderson (4-1) was charged with five runs and nine hits over 6 2-3 innings in his fifth start since rejoining the rotation. The left-hander is 2-20 in 33 career starts when getting fewer than three runs of support while he is in the game, as opposed to a 23-4 record when his teammates score three or more before he departs.

Hunter led off the seventh with his 15th homer, driving a 2-0 pitch to right-center for the first home run allowed by Anderson in 27 innings this season.

"Weave pitched a tremendous game, and he was just waiting for us to do something," Hunter said. "I wasn't thinking about hitting a home run at all. I just wanted to hit it hard, get on base for the guys behind be and get something started."

That run basically was all Weaver needed as he held the A's to just two hits over seven innings and struck out nine to help the Angels avoid a four-game sweep by the A's and hand them their first road loss since Aug. 23 against Tampa Bay.

"It was a good road trip for us, and you want to get as greedy as you can, but Weaver was really good today. So was our guy," manager Bob Melvin said. "Hunter's home run at the time felt like a three-run homer, based on the fact that it seemed like nobody was going to score. Two good pitchers putting up zeros, and they got on the board first and finished it off."

Erick Aybar doubled one out after Hunter's homer and scored on a single by Mark Trumbo. A single by Vernon Wells and a two-out walk to Mike Trout loaded the bases for Alberto Callaspo, who greeted Jesse Chavez with a two-run single. Trout scored his major league-leading 115th run on a passed ball by George Kottaras and Hunter added his RBI single.

"It was pretty hot out there. And when you hit that wall, it comes pretty quickly," said Melvin, a former big league catcher. "Once Brett walked Trout, I felt that was enough, based on a lot of things. But I thought his stuff was as good as it was any of the other times he was out there. He's continuing to pitch at a very high level and giving us a chance to win every single time."