Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Erick Aybar's leadoff homer in the 10th proved to be the difference, and the Angels defeated the A's, 6-5, despite squandering three different leads in the opener of a three-game set.
Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu each added a two-run homer for the Angels, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Hideki Matsui added a sacrifice fly in the victory.
"We need to focus on our club, not who we're playing," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We have a lot of things on our club we need to tighten up a little bit, do more consistently. Obviously, out of the batter's box we did a better tonight and got the win."
Joel Pineiro was in line for the win after allowing three runs in seven solid innings, but had his six-start win streak snapped after Fernando Rodney gave up two runs in the eighth. Kevin Jepsen (1-1) received the win, and Brian Fuentes recorded his 16th save.
Jack Cust hit a solo home run for the Athletics, who have lost four in a row. Kevin Kouzmanoff finished with two hits and Coco Crisp had an RBI in defeat.
Vin Mazzaro yielded three runs, four hits and three walks in a seven-inning start for Oakland, and Andrew Bailey (0-3) was saddled with the loss after giving up the game-winning homer.
"You really want to win that first one, especially after getting swept by the Yankees," Bailey said. "It's a tough loss. We have to do our jobs and win the next two."
Leading off the 10th inning, Aybar golfed a down-and-in fastball from Bailey over the wall in right to give the Angels a 6-5 advantage.
Fuentes took care of the rest, retiring three straight Oakland batters to polish off the win.
The Angels got off to a quick start with two runs in the opening inning as Aybar began the game with a bunt single, and Abreu launched a home run to left-center two batters later.
After a two-out single by Juan Rivera later in the frame, no batter reached base until a leadoff single by Oakland's Mark Ellis in the third. Gabe Gross followed with a double to right that allowed Ellis to score, and Gross later crossed the plate on a Crisp groundout for a tie game.
Cliff Pennington led off the bottom of the fifth with a double, looking to put Oakland ahead, but was thrown out at the plate when he tried to score on Daric Barton's ground ball to Pineiro.
Matsui's sacrifice fly in the sixth gave the Angels a brief 3-2 lead, but Cust blasted an opposite-field home run to left-center in the home half to once again even the score.
Craig Breslow looked to keep the game even in the eighth, retiring the first two Angel hitters of the inning. Abreu, however, reached on an infield single to precede Hunter's go-ahead two-run homer for a 5-3 LA advantage.
Rodney couldn't hold the lead for the Angels, though. Ryan Sweeney blasted a leadoff double and scored on Kurt Suzuki's subsequent single. Two batters later, Kouzmanoff's double plated Suzuki when Rivera couldn't handle the ball clearly, squaring the score at 5-5.
The Angels lead the season series, 7-4...Oakland has homered once or fewer in 23 straight games and trails the major leagues with 53 home runs this season...Aybar also stole his 14th base of the season.