Ellis grand slam lifts Athletics over Angels

OAKLAND, California (Reuters) - Mark Ellis hit a grand slam home run off reliever Chris Bootcheck in the bottom of the 12th inning to lead the Oakland Athletics to a dramatic 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.

"That doesn't happen a whole lot," Ellis told reporters, of his walk-off grand slam, the first in Oakland since 1995.

"It was nice to get it out of the ballpark to make up for previous at-bats."

Oakland forced the game into extra innings by scoring in the seventh inning on an Eric Chavez RBI double that tied the score 3-3. Chavez finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs.

Los Angeles starting pitcher Ervin Santana pitched 6 1/3 innings, striking out nine, before turning it over to the Angels bullpen, which used four pitchers in relief.

The Athletics used five relievers after starter Rich Harden left after the sixth inning having allowed three runs and also striking out nine.

"Any time you go into extra innings its tough, but great job by the bullpen all the way through," said Athletics manager Bob Geren.

Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning for the Angels. It was Guerrero's eighth homer of the season.

Garret Anderson and Gary Matthews Jr. had two hits each for Los Angeles.

Oakland improved to 34-29 with the victory and trimmed the Angels' American League West lead to 4 ½ games.

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)