The Angels headed to Boston and beat the Red Sox on Monday in front of a national crowd. A six-run sixth inning powered the Angels past the Sox, 7-5, to give them their fifth win in the last six games.
Juan Rivera put the Angels up 1-0 in the second with a bases-loaded sacfly to score Vlad; Rivera also extended his hit streak to 11 games with a single. The Angels were then down a run heading into the six, but the Angels would bat around and put up six runs to regain the lead. Chone Figgins led things off with a walk before stealing second and coming around to score on Casey Kotchman’s two-run homerun. Maicer Izturis then doubled and Vlad singled to put runners on the corners for Torii Hunter, who came to the plate and blasted a three-run shot over the Green Monster. The Angels then worked for another run, with Howie Kendrick scoring on a squeeze bunt by Jeff Mathis. The Angel offense handed Dice-K just his second loss, while tagging him for six runs on seven hits.
Jered Weaver threw a decent game, and was able to earn his ninth win with the help of the sixth-inning run support. Weaver allowed the Sox to take a one-run lead with a two-RBI single to Manny in the fourth. Weaver gave up another run in the six before leaving with two outs in the inning. Jose Arrendondo came in and struck out Jacoby Ellsbury with bases loaded to end a threat. Scott Shields gave up a run in the eighth and K-Rod took the mound in the ninth with a three-run lead. K-Rod got his 44th save, but not before Manny hit a two-out solo homerun for an attempt at a comeback. Manny had three of Boston’s five runs, but talk of a trade away of Manny before the deadline could possibly put him out of a Red Sox uniform as early as in this series.
Tuesday’s matchup is John Lackey and Clay Buchholz. Lackey is in search of his ninth win, but has an elevated ERA over 7 in his last four starts, though he did get a win against Boston last weekend. Buchholz is 2-5 but is winless in three starts after coming back from a brief stint in the minors.
