NewsHalos piece together second straight
Angels down O's, tally first consecutive wins of 2009
By Pete Kerzel / Special to MLB.com
04/28/09 11:50 PM ET
BALTIMORE -- Joe Saunders scattered 10 hits, yet continued his April dominance, some command issues notwithstanding.Saunders minimized damage through six innings, Howard Kendrick hit a two-run homer and Los Angeles opened an eight-game road trip with a 7-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.
The Angels almost ran themselves out of an inning by being thrown out three times on the bases, a development that drew no rebuke from manager Mike Scioscia.
Setup man Scot Shields was again shaky and closer Brian Fuentes yielded a ninth-inning home run, transgressions that could be overlooked given the circumstances.
Every team in the Majors has won two in a row, now that the Angels finally turned the trick with two days remaining in April.
"It's definitely good to win two in a row," said Kendrick. "It's been a little while since we've done that. Everything was working for us."
Most of all, the Angels seemed to have karma on their side.
"That is called the definition of a battle," Saunders said after improving to 10-1 lifetime in April. "My command still isn't there. When you fall behind hitters, especially the hitters on their team, you're going to get hurt. I executed my plan, it just wasn't really working out to where we wanted it to be."
So Saunders went into damage-control mode. Plan B? Pitch to contact, let the Orioles hit the ball and hope the fielders could do their jobs. For the most part, the strategy worked.
"It was [messy]," acknowledged Scioscia. "There were a lot of good things that happened and some things that we definitely need to clean up. I think we're still pushing hard and fighting some things defensively."
Leadoff man Chone Figgins reached base four times and scored twice, including the tiebreaking tally in the fifth when the Angels scratched out a run to break a 4-4 standoff. Figgins led off with a single and stole second, moved to third on Maicer Izturis' grounder to second and scored on Torii Hunter's groundout to third.
"Joe didn't have his best stuff, but definitely, he was grinding the whole way. He got us to a point where we had the lead and managed to hold it," Scioscia said.
Kendrick tied the game in the fourth with his third homer, a two-run shot off Adam Eaton. Kendry Morales led off with a double and, one out later, Kendrick clubbed a hanging 1-2 slider from Eaton over the wall in center.
"I don't think he was trying to throw that pitch. I just saw it and tried to hit it. I wasn't trying to do too much with it," Kendrick said. "I just reacted to it. You react to mistakes and I think that's what happened tonight."
Morales added two insurance runs with a double off Chris Ray in the seventh, an inning that saw the Angels spared the embarrassment of having three runners thrown out on the bases by a delayed balk call from home-plate umpire Angel Hernandez.
After Figgins was nabbed at third for the inning's first out trying to stretch a double into a triple, Izturis singled and appeared to have been caught stealing by Jamie Walker's pickoff throw. But Hernandez ruled Walker's move a balk, prompting an animated argument from Orioles manager Dave Trembley, who was ejected. Hunter drew a one-out walk from Ray and Morales hit a two-run double down the right-field line before he was caught at third trying to advance on the throw home.
The unusual circumstance didn't draw the ire of Scioscia. Even though baseball's unwritten rule dictates that teams avoid making the first or third out of an inning at third base, Scioscia said he appreciated Figgins' aggressiveness. Morales, Scioscia said, hesitated going around second base instead of watching third-base coach Dino Ebel and got nailed for his indecision.
"We don't have that rule here, seriously," Scioscia said. "I've heard of it. When you feel like you can get to third base, you get to third base."
Saunders (3-1), who grew up about an hour away from Camden Yards in Springfield, Va., improved to 5-0 lifetime against the Orioles with about 20 friends and family members rooting him on. He gave up four runs, two earned, while walking one and striking out one.
"I got the breaks," said Saunders.
He also got some bad luck. An error by shortstop Erick Aybar, who couldn't handle a throw at second from first baseman Morales in the third, led to two unearned runs and put the Orioles ahead, 4-2.
But the Angels gritted it out while Eaton (1-3), who notched nine strikeouts in a win over Chicago on Thursday, faltered. Eaton was charged with five runs in six innings. He allowed six hits, walked four and fanned two.
Jose Arredondo worked the seventh, Shields got through the eighth despite walking the leadoff hitter and giving up two hard-hit balls, and Fuentes picked up his fourth save in the ninth, though he allowed a leadoff homer to Adam Jones.
Pete Kerzel is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
