Lester, Cubs dominate Angels

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[April 06, 2016]  ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Jon Lester see, Jon Lester do.

Lester followed teammate Jake Arrieta's brilliant performance one night earlier with one of his own, pitching seven strong innings to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 6-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium.

Arrieta blanked the Angels on two hits through seven innings on Monday. Lester (1-0) also went seven innings, holding the Angels to one run on four hits. He struck out four and did not walk a batter.

"Obviously, the starting pitching always sets the tone, and Jon was outstanding," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "Jake and then Jon tonight, they're outstanding, both Cy Young kind of pitchers."

Last year, Lester was hampered by an arm issue in spring training and wasn't able to have the type of season he would have hoped for after signing a six-year, $155 million contract with Chicago.

Now, Lester feels healthy and is confident this season will be different.

"Obviously, I'm in a better place than I was last year coming into the season," Lester said. "Last year was just so different. There was a lot of hype involved just around myself and a lot of expectations for myself, and you try to go out in that first start and live up to those expectations all at once as opposed to just letting the season play out.

"Physically, mentally, I'm light years ahead of where I was at this time last year."

For the Angels, facing Arrieta and Lester turned out to be as tough a challenge as could have been expected. They totaled seven hits in the two games combined, and they were outscored 15-1 in the series.

"The guys understand what it's about," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "They understand they're facing some good pitching, and those guys took it to us for two games. These guys are battling up there at the plate, and we'll get better as we start to get our legs under us in the batter's box."

Like Arrieta, Lester also got support from the Cubs offense, which made the most its nine hits. Dexter Fowler singled and hit a two-run homer, Anthony Rizzo added a two-run homer, Matt Szczur singled and hit a solo homer, and Ben Zobrist and David Ross each had two hits.

Angels starter Andrew Heaney went six innings, and five of them were scoreless. However, the Cubs put together five hits in a four-run third inning that set the tone of the game.

Heaney gave up four runs on seven hits in all, striking out seven and walking none. He briefly had to be treated by a trainer when his nose started bleeding after he made his first pitch of the second inning.

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"Andrew really gutted it up tonight and showed us something," Scioscia said. "It's not easy to pitch when you have cotton up (your nose). He went out there after the one rough inning in the third and bounced back and got through six innings."

About the only good news for the Angels was that they weren't shut out again, scoring their first run of the season in the sixth inning when Yunel Escobar doubled and scored on a single by Craig Gentry.

Mike Trout went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and is now 0-for-8 with three strikeouts through two games. Albert Pujols went 0-for-4 and is now 0-for-7 overall.

The Cubs opened the scoring in the third inning. Szczur, starting in left field in place of Kyle Schwarber, homered to lead off the inning.

Ross doubled, went to third on Fowler's infield single and scored when Jason Heyward grounded into a force play. One out later, Rizzo crushed a pitch from Heaney, hitting it over the fence in center field for a two-run homer and a 4-0 Cubs lead.

NOTES: Angels RHP Jered Weaver threw about 65 pitches during a simulated game Tuesday afternoon at Angel Stadium and came out of it feeling good. Weaver, bothered most of spring by a sore neck, is expected to start Sunday's game against the Texas Rangers. ... Monday was a good day for Cubs reserve OF Matt Szczur, who was a two-sport standout at Villanova, where he played both football (receiver, running back and Wildcat quarterback) and baseball. He watched from the top step of the dugout when the stadium scoreboard showed Villanova's game-winning shot in the NCAA basketball tournament, then came off the bench and hit a three-run double in the ninth inning. Szczur (pronounced "Cesar") was in the starting lineup Tuesday in place of LF Kyle Schwarber. ... The Angels also flip-flopped left fielders for the game, Craig Gentry getting the start after Daniel Nava started Monday.

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