OAKLAND, Calif. - With their offense in a funk, the A's needed strange tactics, a stroke of luck and risky baserunning just to score one run. With help from Rich Harden, that's all they needed.
After Harden and Jarrod Washburn dueled through eight scoreless innings, Nick Swisher scored from first on reliever Scot Shields' throwing error in the 10th for a 1-0 victory over the Angels on Saturday.
It was strange to see Marco Scutaro lay down a sacrifice bunt for the A's, who have all but abandoned the bunt under general manager Billy Beane's Moneyball philosophy. But after Swisher led off the 10th with a single, Scutaro bunted. Shields bobbled the ball then bounded a throw that got past Chone Figgins at first base.
Though strong-armed Vladimir Guerrero was chasing down the ball in rightfield, Swisher raced for home, and he slid headfirst into the plate ahead of the throw.
"Who thinks you're going to go from first to home on a bunt?" Swisher said. "It felt like as soon as I hit third base, (on-deck hitter Mark Kotsay) was telling me to slide. We had to take a shot, though."
The A's hadn't scored in 14 innings before getting a run against Shields, who threw just six pitches.
"It was my fault," Shields said. "I didn't field the ball cleanly. I should have slowed down and got a grip on it. I had plenty of time. If I take my time, I have him easy."
Oakland has scored just 13 runs in the first five games of its homestand, winning two.
"It was a goofy play, but we'll take it," said Kotsay, the only Oakland player hitting above .300. "It's no secret our offense is struggling a little bit, and we've got to do things to score runs."
Harden, who missed his first start because of a blister, allowed just two Angels to reach third.
"I'm not really feeling great yet," he said. "My velocity is down a little bit, but my changeup helps. In the past, I'd just try to throw the ball by people, but now I'm using more of my pitches."
Washburn, who gave up six runs on 12 hits in 51/3 innings against Texas on Monday, allowed just three runners to reach second.
"A few times, my command wavered, but for the most part, I used both sides of the plate," Washburn said. "All my pitches were working. (Harden) has an awfully bright future ahead of him. I wish I had some of his stuff."
