American League roundup

[April 22, 2009]  ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- The Los Angeles Angels played in a daze during their 1-5 road trip through Seattle and Minnesota -- still soaked in grief following the death of a popular young teammate.

When they returned home on Tuesday night to play the Detroit Tigers, the balloons, candles, teddy bears and baseball caps that helped form a makeshift memorial to Nick Adenhart in front of Angel Stadium during the previous homestand were still there.

But the open wound in the clubhouse remains, in addition to Adenhart's fully stocked locker. His surviving teammates are trying to summon enough strength to turn around a 4-8 start filled with uncharacteristic physical and mental errors and win their third straight AL West title.

The Angels continued the healing process with a 4-3 victory, led by a couple of unflappable veterans -- Torii Hunter and Gary Matthews Jr. Hunter tied the score with a solo homer in the fifth inning against Armando Galarraga and scored the go-ahead run on Matthews' two-out double in the eighth off Brandon Lyon (1-2).

"They're an outstanding baseball team, and there's no question they're definitely going to come out of it because they compete too good," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "I would still say that they're the odds-on favorite to win their division because they can do it a lot of different ways. And their manager's tremendous."

Leyland has a pretty good concept of what counterpart Mike Scioscia is dealing with. Leyland managed Darryl Kile when they were with the Colorado Rockies in 1999, and was an advance scout with St. Louis in 2002 when Kile was found dead in his hotel room.

"I don't think you can really tell someone else how to deal with it, because people are all different and people mourn differently," said Leyland, who chatted with Scioscia during batting practice. "I mean, this is a crusher. This is a devastating loss -- forget the baseball part of it. I mean, a young kid like that. But I don't think you can plan on how to handle it. You just have to handle it yourself and give everybody else their space to handle it however they want to handle it.

"I think the toughest part is that, if you try to turn the page and go on, I think sometimes we get a guilt complex about maybe not feeling as sorry as we're supposed to," Leyland added. "You never want to be disrespectful -- but at the same time, you do have to go on. So it's really a catch-22."

Jose Arredondo (1-0) pitched a hitless eighth inning for the win and Brian Fuentes got three outs for his third save.

Hunter drew a leadoff walk in the eighth, then advanced to second on Kendry Morales' flyout. One out later, Matthews -- starting in right field for the injured Vladimir Guerrero -- lined an 0-1 pitch off the center-field fence and clapped his hands emphatically as he reached second.

"I'm definitely not trying to show up anyone, because I'm not like that. But you've got all this pent-up emotion," Matthews said. "This is something few teams have had to deal with. So when you get a big hit, sometimes it spills out.

"It's obviously an emotional team right now, and I don't know if there's a better situation than to go out and have an emotional win," Matthews added. "It was not a bad time to do it, with us having such a tough road trip. We've got some fire and passion and emotion right now. Hopefully we can point it all in the right direction."

Indians 8, Royals 7

At Cleveland, Grady Sizemore hit a three-run homer and the Indians turned double plays in six straight innings.

Aaron Laffey (1-0) gave up a run in the first -- the only run he allowed in seven innings -- and was helped by double-play grounders in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.

Kansas City rallied for four runs in the eighth, but that threat ended when Miguel Olivo bounced into a double play with the tying run on first base.

The six double plays tied a club record for the Indians and set a team mark for the Royals.

Kerry Wood allowed David DeJesus' two-run homer in the ninth before finishing for his second save.

Sidney Ponson (0-2) allowed six runs in 3 1-3 innings for Kansas City.

Yankees 5, Athletics 3

At New York, Johnny Damon hit the only home run in the first night game at the new Yankee Stadium and Andy Pettitte earned the victory.

Damon's sixth-inning shot off Andrew Bailey gave the Yankees a 5-2 lead, and they held on behind Brian Bruney and Mariano Rivera before a crowd of 42,065.

It was the 57th time Rivera has saved a win for Pettitte (2-0), tying Oakland Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley and starter Bob Welch for the highest total in major league history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Rivera worked around Kurt Suzuki's leadoff single in the ninth for his fourth save.

Dana Eveland (0-1) allowed four runs and nine hits in four innings for Oakland.

Rangers 5, Blue Jays 4

At Toronto, Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler each hit two-run homers and Texas roughed up Roy Halladay again.

The game was delayed for 10 minutes in the top of the sixth when plate umpire Kerwin Danley was hit on the head by a broken bat and had to leave the field on a stretcher.

Halladay (3-1) gave up five runs and eight hits in eight innings. In 20 career games against Texas, Halladay is 7-7 with a 5.36 ERA, his highest against any AL opponent.

Brandon McCarthy (2-0) gave up three runs and six hits in six innings for the Rangers. Frank Francisco got five outs for his second save.

A spokesman for the Blue Jays said Danley was taken to the hospital with a possible concussion but did not lose consciousness.

Mariners 4, Rays 2

At Seattle, Jarrod Washburn tossed seven strong innings to continue his surprising start, and catcher Rob Johnson had a two-run triple for the Mariners.

Washburn (3-0) has won his first three decisions for the first time since he started his career 4-0 in 1998. He gave up two runs in the first, matching his season total for earned runs entering the game, then limited the Rays to three hits the rest of his outing.

Washburn was 5-14 with a 4.69 ERA with the Mariners last season.

Johnson's triple was part of Seattle's three-run fourth against Andy Sonnanstine (0-2) as the Mariners spoiled Joe Maddon's 500th game as manager of the Rays.

Evan Longoria hit an RBI double and Pat Burrell singled in a run in the first for Tampa Bay.

Orioles 10, White Sox 3

At Baltimore, Brad Bergesen allowed one earned run in his major league debut, Aubrey Huff homered twice and the Orioles ended a five-game losing streak.

Recalled from Triple-A Norfolk before the game, Bergesen gave up three runs and four hits in 5 2-3 innings. The right-hander struck out five, walked two and hit a batter.

The 23-year-old Bergesen (1-0) outpitched veteran Jose Contreras (0-3), who yielded six runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings. Contreras has lost each of his three starts this season.

Nick Markakis went 4-for-4 with a walk for Baltimore, and Luke Scott was 3-for-4 with a walk. Huff finished with four RBIs.

Chicago's Carlos Quentin, who leads the majors with seven home runs, was 0-for-3 in his bid to homer in a fourth straight game.

[Associated Press]

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