After getting a 7-1 win Friday, the Angels finished the sweep with a 6-2 win on Saturday and 3-2 win on Sunday.
Vlad once again continued his hot month of June and led the lineup with two solo shots, one in the fourth to take a 1-0 lead then another in the seventh to put the Angels up 2-0. The Phillies tied it in the bottom of the seventh, but a two-run Erick Aybar homerun to right in the eighth gave the Angels the go-ahead runs. The homerun is Aybar’s second of the year, his first dating back to May 1st, and came after he replaced Maicer Izturis who left in the third for a pulled hamstring. The Angels added two insurance runs in the ninth, including an RBI-single by Chone Figgins.
Joe Saunders earned his 11th win, with the help of Aybar’s homerun to break the tie after his seven innings of work. He gave up five hits with two runs in the seventh, a solo shot followed by a walk and an RBI-double. Scott Shields helped out Saunders by a rare feat of striking out four batters in the eighth. K-Rod closed out the ninth for his 29th save.
The Angels again held the Phillies to two runs on Sunday and escaped with a 3-2 win to take the series sweep.
The Angels jumped on top by scoring all three runs in the second. Vlad led things off with a single to extend his hit streak to 13 games, and scored on Gary Matthews Jr.’s RBI-single. Casey Kotchman then smoked a homer to right, his eighth of the year, to make it 3-0. Figgins and Hunter were both 2 for 4, and Erick Aybar went 1 for 4 as he again replaced Maicer Izturis at short.
Jered Weaver earned the win to even his record at 7-7. He threw 5 1/3 and fanned six. Weaver escaped a first inning jam on 28 pitches by striking out the side, leaving runners at second and third. Weaver’s only mistake was an RBI-single to Ryan Howard in the second. Darren Oliver then came in to finish the sixth before Scott Shields pitched 1 2/3 hitless, scoreless innings while striking out three. K-Rod gave up a two-out single in the ninth but closed out the game for his 30th save.
The Angel’s starting rotation helped them get the series sweep this weekend, going 3-0 with a 1.40 ERA. The starting staff now leads both leagues with 38 wins, is second in the AL in innings pitched with 484, and fourth with an ERA of 3.79.
