The Angels took their second straight from the White Sox with the help of starter Jered Weaver to take a 2-0 win.
Both teams were held scoreless until the sixth when Vlad led off with a solo homerun off Sox starter John Danks’ first pitch. Torii Hunter then doubled and scored off Casey Kotchman’s RBI-single. Hunter, Kotchman, and Gary Matthews, Jr. each had two hits for the game. Matthews also backed up the Angel pitchers with a few outstanding defenseive plays, including a diving catch for the final out in the ninth inning.
The player of the game, though, was Weaver. He held the Sox to three hits through eight scoreless innings with six K’s. Weaver moves to 3-0 with a microscopic 0.34 ERA in four starts against the White Sox. Weaver retired the last 11 batters he faced before giving way to K-Rod for the ninth. K-Rod pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his 21st save.
The Angels came to Chicago with the White Sox on an eight-game win streak, but will look Sunday to complete the sweep of the Sox to make it their seventh win in the last nine. John Lackey will take the mound for his third start of the season and go for his second win. Lackey is 3-4 lifetime against the White Sox, 2-2 at US Cellular. The Angels will face Jose Contreras, who stands at 5-3. Lackey and Contreras met last week in Lackey’s season debut, with Lackey earning the no decision after giving up one run and Contreras taking the win to start his current three-game win streak.
