Wilson leads Angels over A's in 2-0 win

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The first time the Angels hosted the A’s this season it was their home opener. C.J. Wilson was on the mound and it wasn't his finest hour.

After a 43-pitch first inning, the A’s were on top of him 3-0. He left the game after six innings with a 5-4 lead but the Angels bullpen couldn’t hang on.
 
Wilson was on the bump on Saturday night against those same A's and showed no resemblance of the pitcher that got the start on that Tuesday night in early April.

Wilson had his longest outing as an Angel -- 8 1/3 innings -- in the Angels' 2-0 win over Oakland. The Angels have taken the first two games from the A's in the three-game series and are now nine games back in the AL West, thanks to Wilson's stellar performance.

"I think he was as locked in as we've seen him," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

"(The A's hitters) have some patience but also they got some guys with some power who’ll jump on that first pitch if it's there and can drive it. So, it's not as easy as just saying 'I'm going to throw the ball down the middle.' You have to make pitches and C.J. did that tonight."

Wilson was very good on Saturday night but he also had some sensational defense behind him. There was no better demonstration of that than in the top of the sixth inning when Alberto Callaspo made a nice diving stop and throw to get Oakland speedy, leadoff man Coco Crisp out at first. On the very next play, J.B. Shuck came up and made a great diving catch to rob Chris Young of a hit.

"That was 100 percent awesome," Wilson said. "If J.B. misses that ball then Young's on second or third base. And the play that Callaspo made diving, he's kind of had his ups and downs throwing this year, and he made a great play right there so it was cool."

Wilson was pretty cool himself on the mound. He allowed a hit in each of the first two innings and then proceeded to retire 18 A's in a row. In that span he recorded seven of his eight strikeouts in the game.

The Angels got on the board in the bottom of the first on a Josh Hamilton sacrifice fly to drive in Mike Trout.

They later added an insurance run when Callaspo led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run to right field to put them up 2-0.

Meanwhile, Wilson continued to show the form that's led to six wins in his last seven starts. He allowed just two earned runs in his previous three starts combined. It was the third time in his last six outings that he didn't allow a run. But Saturday night's version of Wilson was even better than the one the Angels had seen recently.

"Today was a notch above," Scioscia said of Wilson's performance.