A's rally late to beat Angels 6-4

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) " Pinch-hitter Nomar Garciaparra, Mark Ellis and Matt Holliday hit RBI singles with two outs in the ninth inning off new Angels closer Brian Fuentes, rallying the Oakland Athletics over Los Angeles 6-4 Wednesday night.

The A's trailed 4-0 before scoring three runs in the eighth inning and three more in the ninth.

Rookie reliever Andrew Bailey (1-0) earned his first major league victory with a hitless eighth inning and Brad Ziegler finished for his second save.

Fuentes, who got the closer's job after record-setting Francisco Rodriguez signed with the New York Mets, took over to start the ninth with a 4-3 lead. After issuing a leadoff walk to Jason Giambi, Fuentes (0-1) retired the next two batters.

Kurt Suzuki followed with a trickler up the first-base line. Fuentes and catcher Mike Napoli both reached for the ball but backed off, and Suzuki reached with an infield single. Napoli was making his first start of the season behind the plate after offseason arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder.

Garciaparra singled to score pinch-runner Bobby Crosby with the tying run, and Ellis and Holliday followed with hits.

Angels reliever Scot Shields replaced Jose Arredondo with runners at the corners and none out in the eighth. Ellis had an RBI grounder and Ryan Sweeney hit a two-out, two-run single that made it 4-3.

Oakland starter Dana Eveland allowed three runs and eight hits over six innings.

Angels rookie Nick Adenhart scattered seven hits over six scoreless innings and escaped a pair of bases-loaded jams. He struck out five and walked three in his fourth major league start.

The two-time defending AL West champion Angels opened the scoring with three runs in the fourth. The first four batters in the inning had hits, including Juan Rivera, whose opposite-field single drive in Torii Hunter.

Bobby Abreu drove in the Angels' fourth run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh against Russ Springer.

Notes: The pitch totals for Adenhart and Eveland were identical: 61 of 98 for strikes. ... LHP Brett Anderson will be the second Oakland pitcher in three nights to make his big league debut when the teams conclude their season-opening, four-game series on Thursday. Trevor Cahill went five innings with a no-decision on Tuesday in the Athletics' 6-4 win. Neither of them ever appeared in a Triple-A game. ... Oakland LHP Josh Outman will make his fifth big league start in Friday night's home opener against Seattle. The A's' five-man rotation entered this season with a combined total of 63 starts in the majors " including 35 by Eveland.