Jered Weaver brought his “A” game last night as helped lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 6-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. The six runs scored by the Angels was the most they’ve scored in a game in about three weeks (seriously). The loss drops the Rays to 38-27.
James Shields started for the Rays and actually threw a complete game, obviously he took the loss. Shields gave up 10 hits and struck out nine, but was burned by a pair home runs to lead him to the loss. His record on the season drops to 4-5 and his ERA rose to 3.91. He still has a suspension looming for his role in the fight with the Boston Red Sox.
The Rays got their only run in the 8th inning on a Gabe Gross solo home run. The Rays were down 6-0 at the time so Gross’ fifth home of the season did little of consequence. The Rays offense managed only four hits all night: The Gross homer, a BJ Upton single, and a pair of Evan Longoria doubles, that was it.
These two teams wrapped up their three game series on Wednesday afternoon. John Lackey played stopper for the Angles this time as the Angels topped the Rays 4-2. The Rays record now stands at 38-28.
Scott Kazmir joined James Shields in the hard luck club. Kazmir threw really well as he struck out 10 over 6.2 innings. It was Kazmir’s first loss in over a month. He allowed three runs before getting pulled in the middle of the seventh inning. Kazmir’s record dropped to 6-2. JP Howell and Dan Wheeler each got two outs to end the game.
The Rays took a 1-0 lead in the first on a Carl Crawford RBI single. After the Angels tied things up at 1-1, the Rays went back on top in the top of the seventh on a Dioner Navarro sacrifice fly to right field. That would be their final run. Akinori Iwamura led the Rays with two hits.
The Rays are probably happy to be leaving Los Angeles as they really struggled with the Angels. The will head back to Florida to start a series with their in-state rivals, the Florida Marlins. Andy Sonnanstine will start the opener on Friday.
