OAKLAND, Calif. _ A night after the Mike Trout-less lineup couldn't support the Angels' strong pitching, the hitters got the job done.
The Angels hit three homers on their way to a 7-3 victory over the Oakland A's on Tuesday night, winning on a night they once again played without Trout.
While their star is resting a tight left hamstring, the Angels got production from throughout the lineup to put up enough runs to give Alex Meyer some margin for error on an uneven night.
Their pitching was brilliant on Monday night, but they scored just two runs in 11 innings in a loss. On Tuesday, they had that many by the seventh batter of the game.
Albert Pujols put them on the board first, when he made 25-year-old rookie Jharel Cotton pay for a changeup over the middle of the plate. Pujols deposited it into the left-field seats for the 596th homer of his career and fifth this season.
The other two homers came from Yunel Escobar and Ben Revere, two players who have been swinging the bat well lately.
Revere belted his first homer of the season and singled. Revere, the player who has replaced Trout in the Angels lineup, has six hits in his last 11 at-bats.
After his second inning homer tied the game, the next two hitters got singles to bring Escobar to the plate with two on, and he smoked a homer over the fence in left center.
It was Escobar's third homer in the last three games, and his fifth of the season. That surpassed his total from all of last season.
Escobar also is hitting .314 (16 for 51) in his past 11 games.
Escobar's homer gave Meyer a three-run lead before he took the mound in the second inning, which was a welcome development as he tries to learn his way in the majors.
Meyer's third start of the season demonstrated all sides of his game.
Meyer was wild at times, like on the five walks he issued, including one to lead off the game. He lacked command at times, like when he threw a fastball over the middle of the plate that Yonder Alonso crushed for a two-run homer. Meyer also threw him a thigh-high changeup that he hit out in the sixth.
On the bright side, Meyer also showed the good parts of his skill set, which are why the Angels want to give him opportunities to refine his game. He still throws his fastball consistently at 96-98 mph, which is above average for a major league starter.
And he complements that with a nasty curveball, which he used to whiff Jed Lowrie to help him defuse a difficult situation in the third inning. In his last start in Seattle, he struck out Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz, back-to-back, both on curves. Meyer struck out seven on Tuesday night.
The Angels would like to see Meyer be efficient enough to get deeper into games. He needed 93 pitches to get 5-1/3 innings, which equaled his career best. It also left the bullpen to maneuver the final 11 outs, although with a four-run cushion when he left the game.
