Albert Pujols, Jered Weaver pace Angels’ 3-1 win over the Orioles
Angels first baseman Albert Pujois reacts after hitting a solo home run against the
KEY MOMENT: Adam Jones reached on a bunt single to open the seventh inning, bringing Orioles slugger Chris Davis, who leads the team with eight homers, to the plate with a 2-0 deficit. Angels starter Jered Weaver got a curveball into a good spot, and Davis grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
AT THE PLATE: Albert Pujols homered to left in the first, his sixth of the season and 526th of his career, which ranks 18th on baseball’s all-time list. Erick Aybar led off the second with a double, took third on Johnny Giavotella’s groundout and scored on Carlos Perez’s sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead. The Angels added a run in the ninth when David Freese and Aybar singled, Aybar’s hit moving pinch-runner Taylor Featherston to third, and Giavotella hit a sacrifice fly. Aybar is batting .425 (17 for 40) over his last 11 games, raising his average from .200 to .269.
ON THE MOUND: Weaver, who is 8-4 with a 3.27 earned-run average in 13 career starts against the Orioles, has walked two in his last 40 1/3 innings. Setup man Joe Smith got the last two outs of the eighth, and Huston Street gave up one hit and struck out two in the ninth for his 12th save.
IN THE FIELD: Right fielder Kole Calhoun made a diving catch of Davis’ liner to end the fourth. Freese, the Angels third baseman, charged Alejandro De Aza’s sixth-inning bunt, grabbed the ball with his bare hand and made a strong, off-balance throw to first for the out.
BUD LIGHT: Orioles right-hander Bud Norris was scratched from Saturday’s start because of bronchitis, a possible reprieve for the Angels. Norris is 1-4 with a 9.88 ERA this season but 4-0 with an ERA of 0.43 in six starts against the Angels. “If there’s such a thing as a negative ERA,” Manager Mike Scioscia said, “he would have it against us.”
ON THE FARM: Top pitching prospect Sean Newcomb, a first-round pick in 2014, will make his first start for Class-A Inland Empire on Saturday after being promoted from Class-A Burlington, where the left-hander went 1-0 with a 1.83 ERA in seven starts, striking out 45 and walking 19 in 34 1/3 innings.
UP NEXT: Right-hander Matt Shoemaker (2-3, 6.61 ERA) will oppose Baltimore right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez (3-2, 2.41) at Camden Yards on Saturday at 4 p.m. PDT. TV: FS West; Radio: 830.
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