Stephen Ellison

Roark is Sharp as A's Shut Down Angels

OAKLAND (AP) Sean Murphy homered for his first hit in his major league debut, Marcus Semien added a two-run shot two batters later and the Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-0 on Wednesday night.

Murphy drove an 0-1 pitch from Jake Jewell over the right center wall in the fifth inning and replays showed his proud parents cheering and celebrating in the stands.

Jurickson Profar also went deep as the A's slugged away to give Tanner Roark (9-8) plenty of support _ not to mention sparkling defense.

Roark pitched 6 2/3 innings, his third scoreless outing of the season. He didn't allow a run over six innings May 9 at the Coliseum against the A's while with Cincinnati.

The right-hander gave up five hits, struck out six and walked two in his sixth start for the A's since being acquired from the Reds at the trade deadline. Yusmeiro Petit, Joakim Soria and Liam Hendriks finished a five-hitter that took just 2 hours, 31 minutes.

The 24-year-old Murphy, a third-round draft pick by the A's out of Wright State in 2016, went 1 for 3 with a strikeout and was called for catcher's interference in the third, allowing Shohei Ohtani to reach and load the bases.

Roark escaped unscathed by retiring Justin Upton on an inning-ending groundout.

Profar connected for his 19th home run with an opposite-field drive in the second off lefty Patrick Sandoval (0-2), who worked just 3 1/3 innings because the Angels want to be careful with the rookie prospect. Sandoval allowed one run on one hit, struck out three and walked one while facing the A's for the first time in his career. He was coming off five scoreless innings with a career-best nine strikeouts his last time out in a no-decision against Texas.

The Angels dropped to 3-15 in their last 18 games and have lost the season series to the A's for the first time since 2013.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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