Angels offense awakens in 8-3 win at Oakland to begin 7-game road trip

OAKLAND, Calif. — Albert Pujols, Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo each drove in two runs to power the Los Angeles Angels past the Oakland Athletics 8-3 on Thursday night.

C.J. Wilson (11-6) allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings for his third straight victory — the past two against Dan Straily (6-4) and the A's. He struck out six and walked three.

Josh Hamilton was 1 for 5 with an RBI after missing three games with a stiff right ankle for the Angels, who had scored just seven runs total while losing three of their previous four.

The last time an opponent scored at least eight runs at the Oakland Coliseum was when the Angels lost 10-8 in 19 innings on April 29.

Derek Norris hit his sixth home run of the season and added another RBI, but Straily struggled on the mound after Oakland took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning. Straily gave up five runs and seven hits in 4 1-3 innings, striking out five and walking two.

The A's remain a season-high three games ahead of Texas in the AL West after the Rangers lost 2-0 to the Yankees. The Angels are 10 games back of Oakland.

Los Angeles began a seven-game road trip at Oakland and Texas by finding some much-needed pop at the plate, getting 12 hits and finishing 6 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

Both teams still had to manufacture runs — the Angels just made it look so much easier.

J.B. Shuck reached on a fielder's choice, advanced to second on Straily's wild pitch and scored on Pujols' two-out single to give the Angels a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Pujols finished 3 for 4.

In the fourth, Yoenis Cespedes walked, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored the tying run sliding feet-first into Wilson's legs blocking the plate after a wild pitch. Cespedes held his right leg in the dugout, grimacing, but stayed in the game.

Norris hit an RBI single later in the inning to give the A's a 2-1 lead. The runs ended Wilson's string of 12 straight scoreless innings against the A's in the past week.

He had tossed 8 1-3 innings of three-hit ball in a 2-0 win against Oakland on July 20 in Anaheim, by far his best performance of the season.

Trout hit a sacrifice fly, Hamilton added an RBI single and Trumbo lined a two-run double to left-center to put the Angels ahead 5-2 in the fifth. The Angels hit five straight singles to start the sixth, pushing across three more runs for an 8-2 lead.

Norris, who earned the start at catcher after John Jaso was placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list before the game, hit a solo shot on the first pitch from Wilson in the bottom of the inning.

Dane De La Rosa pitched a perfect eighth and new reliever J.C. Gutierrez tossed a scoreless ninth for the Angels.