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 The Los Angeles Angels' right-hander bobbed and weaved through
six innings, managing to keep the Chicago White Sox lineup under
wraps and allowing the Angels offense to carry the load in an 8-4
win Friday night at Angel Stadium.
The Angels had six of their 11 hits in the game in five-run fourth,
scoring all five runs with two out and beginning a six-game
homestand on a positive note. Every Angel in the starting lineup had
at least one hit, led by right fielder Kole Calhoun and left fielder
Josh Hamilton, who had two hits apiece.
Calhoun homered leading off the first inning and had a two-run
double in the fateful fourth, when the Angels scored all five runs
with two out.
"We've talked about the (starting) rotation being the heartbeat of
our club and we've talked about our bullpen evolving and gaining
confidence in them, but we need to swing the bats to our
capabilities," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We didn't do it
on this last trip. We did it tonight, and hopefully we'll keep doing
it for a long time because we need to let this lineup play out. Our
lineup can get deep in a hurry if these guys swing to their
capabilities."
Designated hitter Albert Pujols homered for Los Angeles as well,
hitting his team-leading 15th of the season in the eighth inning.
All the offense benefited Weaver, who wasn't sharp but was able to
get the job done. Weaver (7-4) needed 109 pitches to get through six
innings, but he allowed only two runs and five hits. He also walked
four batters, matching a season high.
"We knew coming in these guys (White Sox) were swinging the bats
good," Weaver said. "Maybe I was trying to be too fine at times and
trying not to leave stuff over the plate. I threw too many pitches
early on, but I was battling to make pitches when I needed to."
White Sox starter Andre Rienzo (4-3) had his worst start of the
season, giving up seven runs, nine hits and one walk in 3 2/3
innings, his outing coming undone in the fourth when he couldn't get
the third out.
"That inning, they just put it together, we couldn't stop them,"
White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "He was up, he got in trouble
there and couldn't find his way out of it."
Left fielder Alejandro De Aza homered in the third inning and
designated hitter Adam Dunn had an RBI single in the fifth for the
only two runs the White Sox could muster against Weaver.
"We had some guys in scoring position, but any time we had guys in
scoring position, he'd take a little off, get guys off balance,"
Ventura said. "He wasn't blowing guys away. Location and (changing)
speeds was really what he was doing."
Dunn finished with three hits in the game, including a two-run homer
in the ninth off Angels right-hander Ernesto Frieri.
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The Angels jumped out to an early lead, getting a leadoff homer
from Calhoun and an RBI double from Hamilton in the first inning for
a 2-0 lead.
The White Sox cut the lead in half when De Aza led off the third
with a home run, but Chicago missed a chance for more. A single and
two walks loaded the bases with two outs for Dunn, but Weaver struck
him out looking at an 86 mph fastball to end the inning.
"I was able to locate a good two-seam fastball in there late, and
kind of caught him off guard," Weaver said. "He's one of those guys
if you miss, he's going to punish it. I just tried to locate some
pitches and was able to catch him off-guard."
The Angels offense took it from there, keyed by the five-run fourth.
In the inning, first baseman C.J. Cron had a two-run double, catcher
Hank Conger had an RBI single and Calhoun had a two-run double to
give Los Angeles a 7-1 lead.
NOTES: After playing just one inning of defense in the previous five
games because of inflammation in his upper back, the Angels' Mike
Trout started in center field Friday. ... Angels 2B Howie Kendrick
was not in the starting lineup, getting a day to rest. Kendrick, who
started 58 of the club's first 59 games, entered the game with seven
hits in his past 42 at-bats, seeing his average dip from .309 to
.283. ... White Sox 1B Jose Abreu's 47 RBIs in his first 47 major
league games has been exceeded by only three players in major league
history -- Joe DiMaggio (52), Walt Dropo (52) and Ted Williams (49).
... SS Alexei Ramirez started each of the White Sox's first 62 games
this season, hitting safely in 51 of them.
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