Jered Weaver shuts down White Sox in Angels' 2-0 win

[May 14, 2008]  ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Jered Weaver and two relievers combined to pitch a three-hitter and Mike Napoli hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 2-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.

A.J. Pierzynski's leadoff single in the fifth was the only hit off Weaver, who pitched seven innings. The right-hander struck out six and walked one, coming out of the game after 109 pitches. He was 1-4 with a 7.02 ERA in his previous six starts after pitching seven scoreless innings of three-hit ball in a 2-1 win over Texas on April 5.

Chicago starter John Danks had a hard-luck no-decision, although he had to work hard for it. Pitching against the Angels for the first time in his career, he scattered seven hits and two walks over 6 1-3 innings, struck out five and never retired the side in order.

Danks departed with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh after walking Gary Matthews Jr. with his 99th and final pitch. Octavio Dotel struck out Erick Aybar and Vladimir Guerrero to escape the jam.

But Dotel (1-2) gave up a leadoff single in the eighth to Hunter, who took third on Garret Anderson's single against Matt Thornton and scored on Napoli's flyout to center. Two batters later, Robb Quinlan drove in the second run with a single against Scott Linebrink.

Scot Shields (2-0) pitched one inning for the win and Francisco Rodriguez got three outs for his major league-leading 16th save.

The Angels stranded a runner in scoring position in four of the first five innings. Hunter grounded out with a man on third base to end the first, Guerrero hit into a double play to end the third, Casey Kotchman flied out to end the fourth, and Aybar grounded out to end the fifth.

Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen flip-flopped Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye in his lineup, dropping the slumping Konerko to fifth and putting Dye in the cleanup spot for the fourth time this season following his four-hit performance on Monday night.

Notes: Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk is returning to the White Sox as a team ambassador, the club announced Tuesday. Fisk and Guillen were teammates for nine years in Chicago, winning a division title in their last season together (1993). "I think it's great. It's about time," Guillen said. "To us, it's an honor. Pudge is a legend. I think he's meant a lot more to the Chicago White Sox than to the Boston Red Sox because of the many years he played for us and the fact that he finished up his career here. I asked Pudge a lot of times to come to spring training with us, but he was busy with a lot of different things." ... The Angels activated INF Maicer Izturis from the disabled list and optioned RHP Darren O'Day to Triple-A Salt Lake. ... The White Sox, who lead the AL with 45 home runs, are 0-10 when they don't hit one.

[Associated Press]

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