Oakland A’s fail to deliver knockout punch to C.J. Wilson, Los Angeles Angels

Oakland Athletics’ Yoenis Cespedes (52) steals second base in front of Los Angeles Angels’ Howie Kendrick (47) in the third inning of their MLB game at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, July 25, 2013.

By Jimmy Durkin | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: July 25, 2013 at 11:37 am | UPDATED: August 12, 2016 at 4:24 pm

OAKLAND — The A’s had Los Angeles Angels starter C.J. Wilson on the ropes through four innings Thursday night.

Wilson was at 91 pitches — 35 of which came during a two-run fourth inning that gave the A’s the lead.

But once the Angels began battering A’s pitching, it seemed to suck the life out of the offense, and Oakland lost 8-3 before 20,468 at the Coliseum.

Wilson (11-6) settled down to last through seven solid innings and beat the A’s for the second straight start. He pitched 81/3 innings in a 2-0 win in Anaheim on July 20.

“He started pounding the strike zone a little more once they got the lead,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said of Wilson. “I think he realized, too, that he had to throw some more strikes, and he did. We tried to take advantage of some of those first-pitch strikes and hit a predictable fastball.”

The A’s scored twice in the fourth to take a 2-1 lead and snap Wilson’s streak of 15 straight scoreless innings against Oakland.

That lead disappeared in a flash in the fifth. Five of the Angels’ first six batters reached in the inning against A’s starter Dan Straily (6-4). Mike Trout tied the score with a sacrifice fly, Josh Hamilton gave the Angels the lead with an RBI single, and Mark Trumbo delivered the big blow with a two-run double to knock Straily from the game.

“I just wasn’t able to command the baseball,” Straily said of his fifth-inning struggles. “I wasn’t keeping it down.”

A’s reliever Jesse Chavez retired the final two batters of the fifth but gave up three runs in the sixth. The Angels opened the inning with five straight singles.

“They put good at-bats together,” Chavez said of the Angels. “They take pitches, they wait for their pitches and never give in to an at-bat.”

After putting seven runners on base in the first four innings and jacking up Wilson’s pitch count, the A’s had only two hits over the final five innings. Derek Norris homered in the sixth, and Chris Young had a broken-bat single in the ninth.

Yoenis Cespedes had his right knee wrapped after the game, although Melvin said it was just a scrape. Cespedes scored the A’s first run on a wild pitch. The throw home looked to deflect off Cespedes’ leg as he slid.

A’s catcher John Jaso was placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list and replaced on the roster by Stephen Vogt. Jaso took foul balls to the face mask during games in Houston on Tuesday and Wednesday. He was checked out before flying home with the team Wednesday and placed on the shortened D.L. after receiving approval from Major League Baseball and the players association.

If Jaso isn’t ready to be activated after seven days, he’s automatically shifted to the 15-day D.L. Melvin said he expected Jaso to be ready after seven days.

Vogt returns to Oakland for his second stint this season. He made four starts in June, and the A’s won each game. He had two hits in 13 at-bats, but that did include a homer. At Triple-A Sacramento, he was batting .324 with 13 homers and 58 RBIs.

“He had a great rapport with the pitchers, called a good game, swings the bat well,” Melvin said of Vogt.

Pitcher Brett Anderson, out since May with a sprained right ankle, will throw another bullpen session Saturday. He’ll throw 25 pitches, sit down to simulate a rest between innings, then throw 25 more.

The A’s were one of several teams who attended a workout in Los Angeles for former Giants closer Brian Wilson, according to a CBS Sports report. Wilson hasn’t pitched since April 2012, but the report said his fastball was clocked in the 90-93 mph range. He underwent a second Tommy John surgery last year.

Follow Jimmy Durkin at Twitter.com/Jimmy_Durkin.

FRIDAY’S GAME

L.A. Angels (Jerome Williams 5-6) at A’s (Bartolo Colon 13-3), 7:05 p.m. CSNCA