The Angels haven’t been scoring many runs of late, and they continued their offensive woes with a       6-1 loss to the A’s on on Monday Night. Southpaw Greg Smith outdueled Jon Garland, throwing a complete game for Oakland. Smith got more than enogh support, and hardly labored through the game at all. He pouded the strikezone with fastballs and changeups, and 62 of his 101 pitches were strikes.

Jon Garland also pitched a solid game, giving up 4 runs (2 ER) in 6 innings. For a team that scores as little as the Angels, though, you have to be almost perfect to win. When asked about the Angels poor hitting, Casey Kotchman had this to say:

“It’s going to click for everybody,” the first baseman said. “When it does, that’s when it gets really fun from an offensive standpoint. You don’t get satisfaction without a struggle first. That’s basically how I’m looking at it.”

The Angels made 2 errors, including a crucial one when Juan Rivera dropped a fly ball on Garland’s final pitch, leading to 2 unearned runs. This helped open it up for the A’s, who have really held on in the AL West race. After Monday’s win, they are only 3 1/2 games behind the Angels.

Jon Garland: 6 IP, 8 H, 4 R, (2 ER) 1 BB, 6 SO

Mike Napoli: Solo HR (12)

Greg Smith: 9 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO

Eric Chavez: 1-5, 2 RBI

Carlos Gonzalez: 3-5