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ANAHEIM Robin Roberts Jersey , left leg, the Oakland Athletics‘ Jed Lowrie would be the first to confirm that winning ugly is way better than losing.Lowrie homered and moved over 1,000 hits for his career, and the Oakland Athletics held on for an 8-7 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday, their ninth win in 11 games.Lowrie took no issue with a potential blowout turning into a nail-biter, a rare occurrence for Oakland’s bullpen.“Who cares?” Lowrie said. “We won.”The A’s took the series against the Angels by winning the last two games. Oakland, which currently occupies the second AL wild-card spot, moved within 2 ½ games of first-place Houston in the AL West. The Astros have lost four straight.Oakland is now 36-12 over its last 48 games, the second-best record in baseball over that stretch, behind the Boston Red Sox. The A’s have taken 13 of their past 16 series.Angels manager Mike Scioscia went with a bullpen day, but the strategy backfired when reliever Taylor Cole (0-3), making his first career start, allowed three runs on three hits in 1 1/3 innings.“It becomes more of a ‘Who’s fresh?’ game than a matchup game with the bullpen,” Scioscia said. “You try to do your best to put guys in good spots, but right now we’re not there. We’re looking at whoever’s available to give us innings. We try to line ’em up as best we can, but we’re not as efficient as it is if you have the functionality of having starters get to a certain point in the game, which right now we just don’t have.”Lowrie doubled to left field in Oakland’s three-run first inning, giving him 1,000 hits over 11 seasons. It was also the 250th double of his career. Lowrie’s 1001st career hit was his 18th homer this season, a two-run shot during a four-run fourth for the A’s.“It was a lot of hard work that has gone into (1,000 hits) Tug McGraw Jersey ,” said Lowrie, who took a grounder off his hand early in Sunday’s game and has spent the last month recovering from a bone bruise in his left leg. “It’s one of those big round numbers that is exciting and memorable, so it’s a pretty special moment.”Marcus Semien had three hits for the A’s and reached base four times, a day after hitting a pair of home runs. Lowrie also had a walk as he reached base three times.Los Angeles trailed by as many as four but pulled within a run in the eighth inning on Shohei Ohtani’s two-run single off Jeurys Familia. Blake Treinen struck out the side in the ninth for his 30th save in 34 opportunities. A’s pitchers matched a season high with 16 strikeouts.Rookie Francisco Arcia homered for the Angels. The homer, his third, came one day after Arcia pitched a scoreless mop-up inning. Justin Upton had two hits for the Angels, including an eighth-inning double that gave him an extra-base hit in five consecutive games.A’s starter Trevor Cahill allowed four runs on seven hits with a walk over 4 2/3 innings.“I think it was the first game this year when I didn’t have my changeup, which has been kind of my go-to and my savoir, especially if the fastball command isn’t there,” Cahill said.Fernando Rodney (4-2) pitched a scoreless inning in relief to earn his first victory for the A’s. Rodney has two scoreless innings with Oakland after being acquired from the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.“Today is a day when you need a guy like him,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We feel like we have a deep ‘pen, but on days like this is when you need an extended bullpen with that kind of depth.”OHTANI ON TRACKScioscia reiterated Sunday that he expects Ohtani to pitch again this season. While the two-way rookie from Japan has returned to designated-hitter duties, he has not pitched since June 6 because of a sprained right elbow ligament.Ohtani will have what will amount to a medium-intensity bullpen session Monday in San Diego, where the Angels will open a three-game series. He would then work higher-intensity bullpens, followed by pitching to hitters, before his return.Scioscia would not specify when he expects Ohtani to pitch again, but the likelihood is mid-to-late September.“The goal is pitching again this year and we feel that is attainable,” Scioscia said.TRAINER’S ROOMAngels: LHP Tyler Skaggs (left adductor strain) returned to the 10-day disabled list following his rough outing Saturday, when he gave up seven runs on 10 hits over 3 1/3 innings against the A’s. … SS Andrelton Simmons was a late scratch from the lineup with left knee soreness and is day-to-day. … C Rene Rivera (arthroscopic knee surgery) was expected to play in a game at Single-A Inland Empire on Sunday and Monday, with the Angels hoping he can return to the active roster during the upcoming road trip to San Diego, Texas and Arizona.UP NEXTA’s: LHP Sean Manaea (10-8 Drew Hutchison Jersey , 3.50 ERA) will take the mound Monday at home against the Seattle Mariners, having lasted just 2 2/3 innings in a start against the Los Angeles Dodgers last week.Angels: LHP Andrew Heaney (7-7, 3.96 ERA) will start Monday at San Diego, his first career appearance against the Padres. NEW YORK (AP) — The timetable for Yoenis Cespedes‘ return to the New York Mets will remain an unanswered question until after opening day.The 33-year-old outfielder was limited to 38 games last year. Dr. Robert Anderson operated to remove bone calcification from Cespedes’ right heel on Aug. 2 and from the left on Oct. 26.New Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, Cespedes’ former agent, has said it is too early to prognosticate when the All-Star slugger will be back in the lineup.“I don’t think we’ll have an idea during spring training,” Van Wagenen said on a sun-splashed, spring-like Monday while watching the team’s equipment truck leave for spring training. “I think that our expectation is that he can make progress every day, that we build him up in a smart fashion, that we’re not taxing him too soon, and we want to make sure that he’s 100 percent healthy when he comes back, whenever that day is.”Originally acquired from Detroit at the 2015 trade deadline, Cespedes hit .287 with 17 homers and 44 RBIs, helped the Mets reach the World Series for the first time since 2000. He became a free agent, agreed to a $75 million, three-year contract, then keyed the Mets’ offense by hitting .280 with 31 homers and 86 RBIs in 132 games.Cespedes opted out of the deal after $27.5 million and became a free agent again, only to stay with the Mets for $110 million over four years. Injuries limited him to 81 games in 2017, when he hit .292 with 17 homers and 42 RBIs.He batted .262 with nine homers and 29 RBIs last year, when he missed two months after a May 13 game at Philadelphia with what the Mets said was a strained right hip flexor. He homered at the New York Yankees in his return July 20, then surprised the Mets after that game by revealing the foot issues.Cespedes is owed $29 million in 2019 and $29.5 million in 2020.“We’re counting on him to make a contribution in ’19. We’re counting on him to make a contribution in ’20 Larry Bowa Jersey , and hopefully he continues to make progress,” Van Wagenen said.New York’s major moves were to acquire 36-year-old All-Star second baseman Robinson Cano and All-Star closer Edwin Diaz from Seattle, obtain outfielder Keon Broxton from Milwaukee and sign catcher Wilson Ramos, infielder Jed Lowrie, outfielder Rajai Davis and relievers Jeurys Familia and Justin Wilson as free agents.Van Wagenen has not pursued high-priced free agents, such as outfielder Bryce Harper and infielder Manny Machado. With the start of spring training a week away, dozens of free agents remain available during a second straight slow market.“There’s always been players available in February or March,” Van Wagenen said. “I think there’s been a higher volume of more-recognizable names than in the past. But I think for us, we set out to target a number of recognizable names, and we’ve been really excited that those players have chosen to come with us, and we’re excited that we can go into camp knowing that we’ve accomplished most of what we set out to do.”At this time last year, when he was co-head of CAA Baseball, Van Wagenen said behavior of owners in the free-agent market “feels coordinated, rightly or wrongly.” He claimed many team presidents and general managers “are frustrated with the lack of funds to sign the plethora of good players still available, raising further suspicion of institutional influence over the spending.”He has a new job with new perspective.“You’ve got to have your own vision, have your own plan and go do it. And hopefully as a sport we can be a compelling entertainment product in all the cities in which we work in,” he said. “I think sports in general should be about putting the best product on the field and trying to compete every day, and we’ll certainly do that here.”