ANAHEIM, Calif. — Carson Fulmer delivered as he has been ever since the Angels gave him a shot at a spot in the rotation, but then Hans Crouse faltered.

Fulmer left the mound with a two-run lead in the sixth inning, but Crouse gave up a two-run homer and then the go-ahead run in the Angels’ 5-4 loss to the Oakland A’s on Friday night.

Crouse, a 25-year-old Orange County native, had been one of the Angels’ feel-good stories this summer. After being plucked off the scrap heap, he posted a 1.76 ERA in his first 15 games with the Angels.

Manager Ron Washington summoned him with a 4-2 lead and two outs in the sixth. Fulmer was at 77 pitches – equaling his season high – and he’d gotten the most outs in any of his three starts. Fulmer issued a walk to No. 3 hitter J.J. Bleday, and dangerous slugger Brent Rooker was due.

Crouse hung him a 2-and-1 slider and Rooker belted it over the center field fence, for his 25th homer of the season.

Crouse then allowed each of the next three hitters to reach, pushing home the go-ahead run on a Seth Brown RBI single.

That spoiled Fulmer’s chances at picking up his first victory as a starter, even though he’s kept the team in the game in all three of his starts.

Fulmer has allowed six earned runs in 15 innings in three outings, making him the most successful of the handful of pitchers the Angels have auditioned in the rotation in the past six weeks.

Fulmer also had the benefit of a four-run lead before the second inning, thanks to a pair of two-run homers in the bottom of the first.

First was Taylor Ward, who snapped a month-long homer drought.

Ward was hit in the helmet by a pitch on June 30, and he immediately went into a slump that he admitted was at least partly because the incident changed his approach at the plate. Ward missed the last two months of last season after suffering multiple facial fractures the he was hit in the face.

He started to come around on Sunday. Ward is now 6 for 20 (.300) in his last five games.

A few batters later, Nolan Schanuel blasted a two-run homer, his ninth of the season. Schanuel has lifted his OPS each month, including an .866 mark in July.

The homer gave the Angels a 4-0 lead, but the offense dried up after that.

The Angels had another chance to score in the fifth, but Jo Adell was thrown out at the plate. Adell was trying to score from first on an Anthony Rendon double, but he had slowed up around second base to see if the ball was going to be caught.

After sweeping a three-game series against the A’s in late June, the Angels have dropped seven of the past eight meetings.

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