Duchscherer can’t start after coming off DL, Angels use Morales’ 2 HRs to beat A’s 12-3

Morales’ 2 HRs, 5 RBIs help Angels beat A’s 12-3

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Kendry Morales drove in five runs with a pair of homers, including a go-ahead shot off emergency starter Tyson Ross, and the Los Angeles Angels reached double digits in runs for the first time this season in a 12-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night.

Ervin Santana (2-3) earned his first win since April 18, allowing three runs — two earned — and seven hits over six innings with six strikeouts and three walks. The right-hander is 11-2 with a 1.50 ERA in 18 career appearances against the A’s, including 16 starts.

Torii Hunter hit a run-scoring double during a four-run seventh against Chad Gaudin for his 900th career RBI, and Morales followed with his ninth homer to make it 11-3.

It was the sixth career multihomer game for Morales, who has 28 home runs since last year’s All-Star break — more than any other player during that stretch.

Justin Duchscherer was scheduled to start for the A’s after being activated from the disabled list. But he was scratched just before game time due to a recurrence of inflammation in his troublesome left hip, which had sidelined him since his previous start on April 29.

Oakland manager Bob Geren replaced Duchscherer with Ross, who threw 62 pitches over 3 2-3 innings in his first big league start. He allowed three runs and three hits.

Ross (1-1) retired the Angels in order the first time through the lineup on 44 pitches, then set down his first two batters in the fourth before it all unraveled for the 23-year-old right-hander. Bobby Abreu hit a chopper over the mound and second baseman Adam Rosales came charging in, but couldn’t make the exchange from his glove to his bare hand and Abreu was credited with the Angels’ first hit.

Hunter’s single put runners at the corners and brought Geren out to the mound for a long chat with Ross. Two pitches later, Morales drove his eighth homer to left-center for a 3-2 lead, chasing Ross. When he returned to the dugout, all his teammates were waiting to greet him and pat him on the back.

The Angels increased the margin to 7-2 with a four-run fifth that included RBI singles by Brandon Wood, Howie Kendrick and Abreu. Kendrick was on the front end of a double steal with Abreu and continued home on a throwing error to second by catcher Landon Powell.

Eric Patterson homered for Oakland and Powell had three hits, including an RBI single. Eric Chavez had a double and a single, giving him 2,287 total bases and tying Reggie Jackson for third place on the Oakland list.

Jack Cust returned to the A’s after his contract was purchased from Triple-A Sacramento. He went 0 for 3 and committed an error in left field when he dropped a lazy sacrifice fly by Wood.

NOTES: Ross is a Bay Area kid through and through. He was born in Berkeley, played his high school ball in Oakland and was all-Pac-10 at California in 2007 and 2008. A second-round pick in the 2008 draft, he made 31 starts in the minors over the previous two seasons — 18 with Class-A Stockton. … Ross has made 11 relief appearances this season. The only other time he faced the Angels was April 11 at Anaheim, when he pitched three innings for his first big league save in Dallas Braden’s 9-4 win.