Pineiro pitches 3-hitter, Abreu homers as Angels beat Athletics 4-0

Pineiro pitches 3-hitter, Angels beat A’s 4-0

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Joel Pineiro pitched a three-hitter for his sixth career shutout, Bobby Abreu hit a two-run homer and the Los Angeles Angels completed a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a 4-0 victory on Sunday.

Pineiro (3-4) struck out five, walked one and threw just 98 pitches. He retired 20 of the last 24 batters after giving up the first of two singles by Jack Cust.

Pineiro, signed by the Angels after they lost John Lackey to free agency, was coming off a no-decision against Tampa Bay in which he threw 6 1-3 scoreless innings. He had lost his previous five starts against the A’s.

Trevor Cahill (1-2) allowed three runs, five hits and no walks over seven innings. His catcher was Kurt Suzuki, who was reinstated from the disabled list earlier in the day after missing 19 games because of a strain his ribcage. The team went 7-12 without their RBI leader from last season.

Torii Hunter led off the second inning with a flyball to straightaway center field that was misjudged by Eric Patterson, who thought he was closer to the fence than he actually was. He leaped for it and it fell behind him for a double. Hunter advanced on a groundout and scored on Hideki Matsui’s single.

Moments before Kendry Morales’ groundout, Cahill thought he had a chance to pick off Hunter at second with the switch-hitting Morales up. But shortstop Cliff Pennington didn’t cover the bag as Hunter slid back headfirst, and Cahill showed his frustration at having to hold onto the ball. One inning earlier, Cahill nabbed Abreu at first with the 10th pickoff by the A’s staff.

Patterson made another leaping attempt in the sixth — only this time, he made it at the fence in left-center and ran out of room as Abreu circled the bases with his fifth home run. Abreu had gone hitless in his nine previous career at-bats against Cahill. The homer followed a two-out single by Howie Kendrick that snapped a string of 12 straight batters that the right-hander retired.

Kendrick completed the scoring with an RBI single in the eighth against Henry Rodriguez.

NOTES: Pineiro had two shutouts last season with St. Louis, a two-hitter against the Mets and a three-hitter against the Cubs. … The time of game was 2:06, just two days after the Angels and A’s played 2:05. … Oakland DH Eric Chavez came in with 46 career at-bats against Pineiro, 27 more than the rest of the team collectively. He was 0 for 3. … The Angels begin a seven-game road trip Monday night at Texas, where they play their first series against Vladimir Guerrero since severing ties with the 2004 AL MVP. Guerrero, who helped the Halos win five AL West titles in a six-year span, signed with the Rangers as a free agent after the Angels signed free-agent Hideki Matsui and re-signed Bobby Abreu to a two-year, $19 million deal. … On a day that saw three players come and three others go in the A’s clubhouse, RHP Justin Duchscherer was put back on the 15-day disabled list after his scheduled start on Saturday night was scrapped because of recurring inflammation in his left hip. It’s his seventh trip to the DL. … Oakland designated RHP Chad Gaudin (8.83 ERA) for assignment after he gave up eight earned runs, 12 hits and four homers in 4 1-3 innings during his previous two relief outings.