Angels beat A’s for split of twin bill

OAKLAND » Shohei Ohtani hit his 100th career home run, Taylor Ward hit a grand slam and the Los Angeles Angels salvaged a split of a day-night doubleheader by beating the the Oakland Athletics 9-1 in the nightcap Saturday.

The A’s won the opener 4-3 when Luis Barrera overcame a couple of earlier blunders by hitting a walk-off, three-run shot for his first career home run.

The Angels took little time to rebound in the second game with Ward hitting his second slam of the season in a five-run second inning against Adam Oller (0-3).

Ohtani then got in on the action in the fifth inning when he followed Mike Trout’s RBI double with his seventh homer of the season to make it 8-1.

That made Ohtani the third Japanese-born player with at least 100 homers in the majors, trailing only Hideki Matsui with 175 and Ichiro Suzuki with 117. Ohtani also joined Babe Ruth as the only players with at least 100 home runs and at least 250 strikeouts as a pitcher.

That was more than enough support for Michael Lorenzen (4-2), who allowed one run and five hits in seven innings.

Oller, called up from the minors as the 27th man for the doubleheader, allowed eight runs in five innings and has a 12.27 ERA in four starts this season.

Oakland has lost eight of its last nine home games but the one win in the opener Saturday was a memorable one.

The A’s trailed the opener 3-1 with two outs in the ninth before rallying against closer Raisel Iglesias (1-1), who had converted 21 straight opportunities dating to last season.

Ramon Laureano doubled and Christian Bethancourt walked before Barrera launched the drive into the right-field seats in his 17th career at-bat.

Barrera had made an error in left field that allowed the Angels to score their third run and was doubled off first on a fly out to right field in the seventh.

“I didn’t forget about it all game, but I wanted to make a difference once it was my turn, and my turn did come,” Barrera said.

Lou Trivino (1-2) retired Trout with two on and two out to end the ninth to set up the A’s first walkoff win of the season.

“It’s a great feeling for this group,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “They don’t give up. They fight through the end of the game every day, every night and I couldn’t be prouder of that that group.”

WEB GEMS » The Angels got a couple of sharp defensive plays in the opener with Velazquez making a leaping grab to rob Kemp to lead off the game and center fielder Aaron Whitefield making a diving catch to rob Sean Murphy to end the sixth.

Velazquez then ranged into the hole at shortstop to rob Murphy of a hit.