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  Saturday, Jul. 1 10:05pm ET
Washburn holds A's hitless through 6
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Jarrod Washburn knew he was about to hand the ball to a reliever. He just didn't know whether he'd be handing him a no-hitter, too.

Jarrod Washburn
Jarrod Washburn said he would have been too "gassed" to complete a no-hitter himself.

"I knew that if it was going to be a no-hitter, it would have to be a combined effort. I was gassed," the Anaheim left-hander said after the Angels' 7-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night.

Washburn took a no-hitter into the seventh, then allowed a leadoff homer to Olmedo Saenz and a two-out shot to Matt Stairs.

"I really wasn't thinking much about a no-hitter. I just wanted to keep putting up zeros, because this was a big game for us," Washburn said. "Regardless, I think that would've been my last inning."

He didn't get to complete the seventh. After the homer by Stairs, Al Levine came on to finish with 2 1/3 innings of one-hit ball.

"I thought it was a struggle. I didn't feel like I was cruising," said Washburn, who walked five. "I didn't have my good command."

Angels manager Mike Scioscia was also surprised Washburn took a no-hitter into the seventh.

"You look up and see he hasn't allowed anything but, honestly, he wasn't as sharp as I've seen him," Scioscia said. "He was behind a lot, and came back to get big outs.

"But you can't discount his performance."

The Athletics certainly were not about to belittle Washburn's effort, which resulted in their fourth consecutive loss.

"We're a little off now, but he threw a good game. We just couldn't get anything going," Jason Giambi said.

After being held to three hits for the second straight game -- Brian Cooper had blanked Oakland 7-0 in the series opener Friday night -- A's manager Art Howe was clearly upset.

He held a spirited team meeting after the game, then said, "I'm just upset with our performance, period. This was not a good evening. We have to start playing the game the way it's supposed to be played."

The Athletics had as many errors as hits, with two of the miscues figuring in the scoring, and four pitchers combined to issue nine walks. Three of the walks turned into runs.

"Everyone's a little tired, but we have to stop playing like we're tired," Giambi said. "We have to suck it up, play hard, and finish up strong before the (All-Star Game) break."

Washburn (4-2) allowed two runs and two hits, struck out two and walked five in 6 2/3 innings.

Levine allowed just a double to Ben Grieve in 2 1/3 innings to complete the three-hitter.

The Angels took a 2-0 lead in the first when Tim Salmon hit an RBI single and Mo Vaughn scored on an errant pickoff throw by Ariel Prieto (1-1).

Bengie Molina's two-run homer in the third, his eighth, made it 4-0.

Anaheim added an unearned run in the fifth, on second baseman Randy Velarde's wild relay on a potential inning-ending double play. Vaughn's RBI single in the sixth made it 6-0.

Vaughn added another RBI single in the eighth to make it 7-2.

Washburn flirted with a no-hitter for the second time this season, but this was the first time he was actually on the mound to see it end.

On May 29, the left-hander held the Indians hitless for five innings in Cleveland, then was removed as a precaution because of a strained oblique muscle.

Prieto, slowly making his way back from 1998 reconstructive elbow surgery, went four-plus innings in his third start of the year. He allowed five runs -- three earned -- on four hits, with five walks and two strikeouts.

Game notes
The Angels have spent the entire season between two games under and four games over .500. ... Garret Anderson's walk against Scott Service in the fifth was his first unintentional walk since June 2, a span of 102 at-bats. ... Since missing a couple of games a week ago with back spasms, Troy Glaus is 1-for-18, with 12 strikeouts. Glaus even grounded into a double play in the seventh after doing so only once in his first 272 at-bats. ... The A's have scored six runs during their slump. ... Angels SS Benji Gil prolonged Washburn's no-hitter by going deep into the hole for Velarde's sixth-inning one-out grounder and throwing him out at first.
 


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