News
Vlad keys late Halos rally over KC
Angels capitalize on shaky Royals 'pen in eighth frame
By Rustin Dodd / MLB.com
09/05/09 1:26 AM ET
KANSAS CITY -- Looking for an offensive spark, Mike Scioscia shuffled the lineup before Friday night's game.Perhaps this wasn't the kind of offensive eruption Scioscia had in mind. The hits column on the scoreboard showed just three hits for the visiting team, and the Angels were shut down for nearly six innings by a spot starter who usually moonlights as a long reliever.
But Scioscia had a message after this one.
"Sometimes less is more," he said.
Scioscia was talking about his slumping offense needing to do the little things.
But perhaps he could have been talking about this game -- a 2-1 victory over the Royals on a cool night at Kauffman Stadium, where the Angels certainly got away with less.
"It's frustrating," Scioscia said, "and our guys are maybe gripping the bat a little bit too tight. But tomorrow hopefully we'll have some better looks."
Of course, it was hard to be that frustrated.
Especially after Vladimir Guerrero delivered a two-run single in the eighth to give the Angels their first runs of the night.
Guerrero's clutch single helped snap a two-game losing streak, during which the Angels had totaled one run, and it also kept them 3 1/2 games ahead of the Rangers in the American League West. It also gave starter Jered Weaver a career-high 14th win and closer Brian Fuentes his 38th save.
Guerrero and the Angels also took advantage of some shaky bullpen work. Three Kansas City relievers combined to walk the bases loaded in the eighth, setting up Guerrero -- who had a similar opportunity in the sixth but grounded out to end the inning.
This time Guerrero came through, ripping a line drive to right off reliever Roman Colon.
Guerrero said he could sense it. His teammates -- the ones that had only managed one run in two straight losses at Seattle -- were becoming a little jumpy at the lack of offense.
"I had to tell myself, 'Don't try to break the ball and split it in two', " Guerrero said through an interpreter.
So it wasn't the offensive production that Scioscia had in mind after moving Maicer Izturis into the two-hole, bumping Bobby Abreu to third, and having Guerrero, Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales hit fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
But there was more than one surprise on Friday.
The Angels had planned on facing Gil Meche, the Royals' scheduled starter who holds an 8-3 career record against Los Angeles.
But Meche was scratched with a fatigued right shoulder and the Angels got hard-throwing middle reliever Robinson Tejeda instead.
It seemed like a good deal for the Halos until Tejeda went on to allow just one hit over 5 1/3 scoreless innings.
"We've never seen [Tejeda] on like this," Scioscia said. "He really pitched well. He had good velocity -- was throwing a lot of strikes and mixing up some offspeed pitches -- and obviously we didn't have too many good looks at him while he was in there."
At one point, after a single by Izturis with one out in the first, Tejeda retired 15 consecutive batters.
Meantime, Weaver sailed through three scoreless innings before finally surrendering the lead in the bottom of the fourth.
The night's first run came like this: Weaver recorded the first two outs with no problems. But Kansas City designated hitter Mike Jacobs lined a double to right-center and Alberto Callaspo drove a ball over the head of Abreu in right for a triple to give Kansas City a 1-0 lead.
That would be the Royals' only run against Weaver, who lasted seven innings and scattered nine hits.
"You knew it was just a matter of time before the boys got a couple runs for me," said Weaver, who has now given up just five earned runs in his past four starts.
After missing out on an opportunity to score in the sixth, the Angels had another rally lose steam in the seventh against Royals reliever Jamey Wright.
Morales walked with one out and Juan Rivera followed that up with a single to center. But the inning fizzled when Mike Napoli went down swinging, and Morales was thrown out trying to steal third.
The Angels were finally able to unnerve Royals pitchers in the eighth.
Wright handed walks to Chone Figgins and Izturis before the Royals called on reliever John Bale. In a freaky injury, Bale threw one pitch, grimaced in pain, and left with a strained right hamstring. That set the stage for Abreu to draw a walk from Colon and Guerrero to deliver his game-winning RBIs.
"The thing about Vlady is even if you throw the perfect pitch, you never know with that guy," Colon said. "That guy can hit balls that bounce out of the dirt."
In all, the Angels collected eight walks, including six handed out by Kansas City's bullpen.
So for another night, the Angels offense stayed relatively quiet. Of course, sometimes less is more.
The Angels aren't going to be on every night, Scioscia said.
"We need to get back to some little things that are going to spark what we need to do," Scioscia said.
Rustin Dodd is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
