ANAHEIM -- The A's announced a promotion in conjunction with Thursday night's game against the host Angels, offering their fans a $1 discount on selected seats for Sunday's home game against the Rangers for every hit the team collected in the finale of its four-game series in Southern California.

Thanks to Oakland's highest hit total in nearly three years, and its best against the Angels since 1983, those $24 Plaza Level seats -- there are 2,500 of them -- were going for $4 when the tickets went on sale 10 minutes after the A's moved back into a tie atop the American League West standings with a 15-8 victory.

"Four dollars?" Oakland manager Bob Geren said after the game. "Awesome. I love it. So we're going to have a big crowd Sunday. That's a good promotion."

Outfielder Jack Cust certainly did his part to beef up the crowd for Sunday's "Turn Back The Clock" game, for which both teams will wear circa-1968 uniforms. Cust made up for a dropped fly ball that led to five unearned runs by going 4-for-4 with two walks, his second homer of the year and three runs scored.

"After I got a couple of hits, some of the guys in the dugout were saying that every time I messed up a ball last year, I raked," Cust said. "I was kind of thinking that, too."

Cust was one of seven Athletics with at least two hits, and Emil Brown went 4-for-6 as part of the 20-hit attack that included Oakland's second eight-run inning of the series.

Every player in the starting lineup had at least one knock for the A's, who earned a split of the series by winning the opener and the finale by a combined score of 29-10. The Halos dominated the middle two games from the mound, winning 2-0 and 6-1.

"It was good to see our hitters come out of it a little bit," said Bobby Crosby, who had both of his hits during Oakland's big inning.

The A's, who fell behind early on Tuesday and Wednesday, took advantage of shaky Angels starter Nick Adenhart to jump ahead Thursday.

Making his big league debut on three days of rest because Angels manager Mike Scioiscia used his originally scheduled starter, Dustin Moseley, at the end of Monday's blowout, Adenhart worked a perfect first inning but gave up four runs on five walks and three hits in the top of the second before getting the hook.

"We just wanted to be patient," Crosby said. "You could tell from the get-go he was a little erratic. You knew he really couldn't command his pitches, so you just want to get on any way you could."

Said Scioscia: "They're a patient club over there. We set the table for them, and then we didn't make pitches when we had to."

The Halos took the lead in the bottom of the frame after Cust dropped a routine two-out fly ball to left. A's starter Justin Duchscherer, who had gotten the first two outs on six pitches, threw 30 more while giving up five consecutive hits after the error, including a three-run homer by Erick Aybar.

"I didn't even know I dropped it until I saw [center fielder Ryan] Sweeney running after the ball," Cust said. "Obviously, I felt pretty bad. I made Duke throw a lot of extra pitches."

Duchscherer didn't blame Cust for anything, instead kicking himself for not getting out of the inning to take Cust off the hook.

"For me, it was disastrous," Duchscherer said. "I always take pride in picking guys up. People are human. They make errors."

Oakland tied it in the third on a sacrifice fly by Jack Hannahan off Moseley (1-3) and took the lead on Daric Barton's single in the fourth. Mike Napoli tied it back up with a homer off Duchscherer in the fourth, but the A's and broke the game open with eight runs on eight hits and two walks in the fifth.

Cust opened the frame with a drive over the wall in right-center field.

"I felt good hitting," he deadpanned.

"I was very happy for him," Crosby said of Cust. "I'm sure he had some extra motivation."

Geren had been saying for a while that Cust, who was batting .176 but with a .386 on-base percentage going into the game, was on the verge of flashing the form that made him Oakland's home runs (26) and RBIs (82) leader last season.

Duchscherer, who got the win with five innings of six-hit work, was glad it came on his watch.

"Hopefully he can carry it into the next game, the next week, the next month, and do what he did for us last year," Duchscherer said. "He's a big part of our offense."

"He's proven he's a good hitter," Crosby added. "It's just a matter of time."