 pitched six scoreless innings in his first start of the year after the lefty signed as a free agent for his third stint with the A's. Anderson, who also pitched for Oakland last year and from 2009-2013, allowed three hits, struck out four and walked two.Including solid outings from Mike Fiers and Marco Estrada, Oakland starters have three consecutive scoreless outings of at least six innings for the first time since Aug. 24-26, 2005, by Kirk Saarloos, Barry Zito and Joe Blanton.A's manager Bob Melvin wanted to give Canha a start - his first of 2019 - given how well he swung the bat in Tokyo and the preseason Bay Bridge Series against the Giants earlier in the week.''We know that when he gets consistent at-bats, he tends to be pretty good,'' Melvin said.Canha's first homer of the year chased starter Felix Pena (0-1), who was tagged for four runs and four hits in 3 2/3 innings after retiring the first eight hitters in order. Pena struck out three and walked one.Mike Trout had as sacrifice fly in the eighth and Andrelton Simmons followed with an RBI single. A's All-Star closer Blake Treinen relieved J. B. Wendelken and gave up Albert Pujols' single before retiring the next two hitters, including Justin Bour on a called third strike. Treinen worked a perfect ninth for his first save and sixth career of five outs or more.Pujols, who at 39 has 633 career homers and is beginning his 19th season, got his first hit of the year with a two-out single in the sixth.The A's avoided what would have been just their second 1-4 start in 21 years, doing so in 2011.Piscotty hit his second single of the night in the seventh for Oakland, which began a stretch of 18 straight games with Thursday's stateside opener against the Angels. Oakland dropped two games to the Mariners in Tokyo last week.RICKEY'S ASSISTAs A's third base coach Matt Williams prepared to throw batting practice, Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson hopped into the cage - and not to hit. He squatted into a crouch and began catching Williams' warmup throws. Just behind him was the logo of the field named for him and his No. 24, ''Rickey Henderson Field.'' ''Every day I see it,'' he said. ''It's an awesome blessing to me.'' TRAINER'S ROOMAngels: Shohei Ohtani will continue to rehab in Anaheim when the team returns home from this season-opening six-game trip that includes games at Seattle on Monday and Tuesday. He began hitting on the field this week and is throwing three times a week. At some point, Ohtani is expected to go on a rehab assignment once he is ready to face live pitching.Athletics: Manager Bob Melvin gave CF Ramon Laureano a day off until he entered for defense in the ninth. Laureano is batting .118 (2 for 17) with nine strikeouts in four games. ''I think maybe just a little anxious, trying to get it all back with one swing,'' Melvin said. ''He's got some power. He'll figure it out.'' Canha started in center and was set to play first base Sunday against a lefty starter.UP NEXTAngels: LHP Tyler Skaggs takes the mound for his season debut for the Angels.Athletics: RHP Frankie Montas makes his first 2019 appearance and first career start against the Angels in the series finale.---More MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Angels look to continue trend against Athletics The visiting Los Angeles Angels hope to continue a recent opening-series trend when they seek a second straight win against the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night.One day after opening the season with a 4-0 loss to the A's, the Angels got key late hits from Andrelton Simmons and Mike Trout while rallying from a 2-0 deficit to square the series with a 6-2 win on Friday night.The Angels also lost on Opening Day at Oakland the last two seasons, only to immediately get even in the second game.On both of those occasions, the Angels also won the third game of the series, each time by five runs.Seeking to make it three years in a row, L. A. will send right-hander Felix Pena to the mound to oppose Oakland lefty Brett Anderson.They went head-to-head twice last season, including in a 10-0 A's win in September in which they bombed the L. A. starter for six runs in the fourth inning.Anderson threw six shutout innings that day, allowing three hits.Neither got a decision in their August head-to-head, which began with Matt Chapman and Khris Davis homering off Pena in a three-run top of the first.But that's all the A's got off the 29-year-old in 5 2/3 innings.In the meantime, the Angels rallied to win 4-3, with Kole Calhoun contributing a two-run homer off Anderson to get the comeback rolling.Anderson has faced the Angels 13 times in his career, 10 times as a starter, going 2-3 with a 3.48 ERA.He's had surprising success against Trout (1-for-9) and Albert Pujols (0-for-7).Like his A's mates in the first two games of the series, one powerful bat Anderson won't have to deal with Saturday is Angels slugger Justin Upton, who suffered a toe injury when he ran into the outfield wall in last Sunday's exhibition game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.Angels manager Brad Ausmus announced before Friday's game that Upton will miss at least the next eight weeks."It's certainly not ideal," Ausmus gruffly responded to reporters when asked about the significance of the injury. "Can we withstand it? We have to. We don't have a choice." Anderson will be following in the footsteps of starters Mike Fiers and Marco Estrada, both of whom turned shutouts over to the Oakland bullpen.A's relievers protected Fiers' lead, but couldn't do the same with Estrada's."Same situation as (the opener)," A's manager Bob Melvin observed to reporters about the use of his bullpen in Friday's 6-2 loss. "Once we took the lead, we had our guys lined up."We feel good when our bullpen's in the game and we're in the lead. Just didn't happen tonight." Pena has three career appearances (two starts) against the A's, all last season. He's gone 0-1 with an 8.44 ERA.Jurickson Profar was a third current member of the A's to have homered against Pena last season, doing so for Texas.--Field Level Media
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