The final game in the Angels~Athletics series was an important one for Angels’ pitchers. With the Angels’ victory Wednesday afternoon, two records were officially tied; Saunders for 12 wins before the All-Star break and Frankie Rodriguez for the most saves before the All-Star break. But pitching did not win the game all by itself.

Something else helped the Angels score runs to top the A’s, 7-4; hits. And not only were there hits, there were homeruns. Juan Rivera and Aybar both went deep, supplying the Angels pitchers with run support, and essentially, a record-breaking win. Rivera, who hasn’t played much this year, (31 games batting .185), hit his first bomb since September 9, 2007.

“I was looking for something offspeed, because I knew Keith Foulke throws a lot of offspeed stuff,” said Rivera. “I wanted to be aggressive in that situation.”

Well, whatever he did, if he succeeds in doing it more often, he just may start seeing his name more consistently in the starting lineup.