BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Homer Against Finley Surprises Brosius

The Oakland Athletics are finding ways to win. But given the way Chuck Finley was pitching Wednesday, they didn’t figure to pull this one out with a home run by the No. 9 hitter who was down in the count 1-2.

“It was a weird one,” Oakland third baseman Scott Brosius said after his ninth-inning shot down the left field line lifted the A’s to a 1-0 victory. “When I got two strikes, I was just trying to hit the ball up the middle.

“When I hit the ball, I didn’t feel anything and I looked up there and said, ‘That ball can get out of here.’ I was just hoping it wouldn’t hook foul. It was probably one of two forkballs he got up all day.”