The Angels lost on Sunday, 5-2, to fall one win short of the series sweep. The loss is just the second for the Angels since the All-Star break, and they still hold a 10-game lead in the AL West over the second-place Rangers, the A’s have fallen to 11.5 games back.
The offense took a rare slowdown for this game, with the Angels getting just two runs on eight hits. They scored one in the fourth when Erick Aybar scored on Vlad’s RBI-groundout. They added another in the seventh when Juan Rivera scored on Garret Anderson’s pinch-hit single.
Ervin Santana was roughed up from the first inning and couldn’t recover for the win, he takes his fifth loss in 20 total starts. He gave up two runs in both the second and third innings and was taken out after five. Justin Speier threw two innings and Darren O’Day pitched one.
One loss in their past five games is hardly anything to worry about, the Angels still hold the best home and road records in baseball. They head out to Boston on Monday for a three-game series with the Red Sox. Boston is in danger of being swept by division-rival Yankees tonight, so they may be in a bit of a slump as they open their series with the Angels. Jered Weaver will take the mound and look for his ninth win on Monday in front of a nationally-televised crowd. He is winless in five starts against the Red Sox for his career. Boston sends Dice-K to the mound, who holds an outstanding 11-1 record with a 2.63 ERA and an opponent’s batting average of .202.
