Angels Fall To Colon's A's 6-4

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Bartolo Colon won his 14th game for a share of the major league lead, backed by Jed Lowrie's homer and two-run single and a two-run drive by Stephen Vogt in the Oakland Athletics' 6-4 victory against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.

Colon, the 40-year-old All-Star, won his third straight decision while facing his former club. The right-hander earned the 2005 AL Cy Young Award with a 21-8 year for the Angels.

Mike Trout hit a two-run homer in the first on a ball he crushed into the elevated seats in left-center, then Colon settled in nicely against Los Angeles' loaded lineup.

Colon (14-3) allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings, struck out two and walked two. He has won 11 of 12 decisions since losing May 9 at Cleveland and has lost just once since turning 40 on May 24.

After serving a 50-game suspension late last year into this season for a positive testosterone test, Colon is among more than a dozen players being investigated by Major League Baseball for ties to a Florida clinic accused of distributing performance-enhancing drugs.

On Friday, he helped the AL West-leading A's bounce back from an 8-3 defeat in Thursday night's series opener.

Lowrie homered in the bottom of the first to get the A's to 2-1, then singled home two runs to put his team ahead in the second two batters after Eric Sogard's tying single. Vogt connected in the sixth.

Jerry Blevins walked the first two Angels of the ninth. Grant Balfour relieved and allowed Albert Pujols' two-run single. He struck out Josh Hamilton to end it for his 27th save after blowing his first opportunity since April 29, 2012, Tuesday night at Houston -- snapping his franchise-best streak of 44 saves in a row.

Jerome Williams (5-7) lost his second straight start to the A's while facing them for the fifth time this year.

He yielded four runs and six hits in five innings. The A's pushed his pitch count up in a hurry, and he threw 103 in all over five innings -- his fifth straight outing of five or fewer innings.

Williams lost his fifth straight decision and has a seven-start winless stretch since beating the Orioles in Baltimore on June 12. Williams, who pitched for Oakland's Triple-A Sacramento club in 2009, received a mound visit after Coco Crisp followed Sogard's tying single in the second with a base hit.

Crisp started a nice double play in the third when he caught Pujols' fly and threw to second baseman Sogard to get Trout after he reached on an infield single.

Angels C.J. Wilson, Jason Vargas and Hamilton took Bay Area Rapid Transit to the Oakland Coliseum after authorities temporarily shut down the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge when a suspicious device was found, snarling traffic on both sides of the crossing on a busy Friday afternoon.

"The Rangers used to only have one bus, so we'd take BART all the time," Hamilton said. "It's awesome, man. No one notices you."

Angels second baseman Tommy Field singled in the second for his first major league hit since Sept. 28, 2011, while with Colorado.

NOTES: Crisp passed Jose Canseco for sixth place on Oakland's career stolen base list with 136. Reggie Jackson is fifth (144). ... A's LHP Brett Anderson, recovering from a stress fracture in his right foot, will throw another bullpen session Saturday. If that goes well, the next step will be a simulated game. ... Special adviser Phil Garner is in Oakland for this homestand and was on the field for batting practice. ... Angels 2B Howie Kendrick was out of the lineup because he needed a day off, manager Mike Scioscia said, adding that Kendrick will return Saturday. ... LHP Vargas, sidelined by a blood clot in his left armpit area, continues to throw off the mound every three days and should be able to rejoin the Los Angeles rotation soon. ... The teams will wear throwback uniforms from 1969 for Saturday afternoon's contest as Oakland hosts a 60s theme day. ... Oakland opened the gates at 4:30 p.m., in a new earlier Friday format to allow fans to watch Home Run Derby champ Yoenis Cespedes and others take batting practice.