Major League Baseball

How the Angels won (08/31): Halos sweep A's, extend AL West lead

Published Aug. 31, 2014 8:07 p.m. ET

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How the Angels Won: It's a simple formula. The Angels pitched well enough to stay in games 1-4 and when their opponents made mistakes, they capitalized. The same formula proved effective on Sunday in an 8-1 win over the Oakland A's at Angel Stadium, effectively completing the four-game sweep over their AL West rivals. 

"I think the whole series we played that way," said manager Mike Scioscia. "You've got to look at the caliber of pitching we were facing, those pitchers are some of the best in baseball. And we did a real good job to scratch and claw when we had to in close games and we blew it out today."

Stud of the Game: It took the A's 29 innings to score, a streak that dated all the way back to Friday night, as Matt Shoemaker (14-4) pitched seven shutout innings for the third-straight time, becoming the first Halo to do so since Nolan Ryan in 1976-1977.

"When he's on that mound, he thinks he's Nolan Ryan," Scioscia said. "He pitches with confidence and he's not afraid to get that fastball out of the zone and change speeds with his slider and his curveball."

"I didn't even know that until after the game," Shoemaker said. "It's an honor just to be mentioned by that name, so that's pretty special."

Shoemaker struck out seven and walked none, giving up only five hits and had the benefit of a 6-run lead after the second inning. 

"Every time I get the ball I try to be as aggressive as I can," he said. "Just keep going out there and trying to get outs, put up zeros for the team and at the end of the day, get the team a win."

The rookie that no one saw coming has won four straight and he's turning some heads for reasons other than his shoe polish beard. 

Chris Iannetta is also a solid runner-up candidate as the catcher's on-base percentage ballooned to .380 as he went 3-for-3 with a walk, home run and two runs scored for his fourth multi-hit game this month. 

Dud of the Game: Scott Kazmir has been a tremendous comeback story this season but Sunday, he looked more like the Angels' version of himself; the Kazmir that pitched himself to a 9-15 record with the Angels in 2010.

Kazmir failed to make it out of the second inning. He walked four and was charged with six earned runs in only 1.1 innings. It matched his career-low and he didn't record one strikeout. 

Key Moments: The Angels jumped out to a lead with only one out in the second after Aybar singled and Josh Hamilton blew threw Gary DiSarcina's stop sign at third to score. Kazmir then walked in two runs and A's manager Bob Melvin had seen enough. 

He went out to the mound to replace Kazmir but found himself in an argument about balls and strikes with home plate umpire Gerry Davis and was quickly ejected.

If it was a move meant to fire up his team, which didn't work; Mike Trout drove in two with a single in the next at-bat.

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Key Stat: It's beginning to feel a lot like 2009.

The last time the Angels held a five-game AL West lead was in 2009 and their 83-53 record matches the best pace the club has ever been at all-time.

They said it: Melvin would like to apologize to the Oakland fans.

The manager is struggling to come to grips with what's going on with his team. All series, the A's made careless mistakes, shown a lack of awareness on defense and an inability to fight back. 

"What can you say? It's embarrassing, it's pathetic," Melvin said. "I feel bad our fans have to watch that."

What's Next: The MLB-best Halos have a day off Monday before heading to Houston for two games, followed by Minnesota, Cleveland and Texas. They'll bring with them an expanded roster as September call-ups will be made Monday as well. 

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