ANAHEIM – Dan Haren went six strong innings in his return to the pitching staff as Mike Trout made some history along the way of a 7-4 victory that won the series for the Angels Sunday evening in Anaheim.
With the series victory the Angels trail the Rangers by five games in the west, closer then when they started the three game series on Friday. Both the Angels and Rangers meet for a four game series in Texas beginning next Monday.
Mike Trout just continued to prove he is best human being on the face of the earth tonight, and with the game on national television more and more people were able to witness the 20-year-old legend that we have the pleasure of watching every single night.
Mike Trout showed his greatness to the national audience quickly in tonight’s ball game, in the first inning Trout was able to hustle out his fifth triple of the year to lead off the night for the halos, most players would have stopped at second on the play but this is what separates Trout from the rest of the players in the major leagues. Two batters later Albert Pujols singled him home on a double down the left field line — With Trout touching home plate on the play he has now scored in 14 straight games which is an American League rookie record and an Angel franchise record.
The Angels would not let up in the second inning off of one of the hottest pitchers in baseball, Matt Harrison, a pass ball scored Alberto Callaspo from third — Callaspo started the inning off with a leadoff bloop single to right field and was able to make it to third on a Maicer Izturis double over third baseman Andre Beltre. Later in the inning Bobby Wilson batted home Macier Izturis to give the halos a 3-0 lead, when has Bobby Wilson ever batted home a run?
Bobby Wilson was almost like the Texas killer tonight, Wilson went 3-4 tonight to go along with a home run and two RBI’s.
Matt Harrison came into the night 8-1 with a 1.34 ERA in his last ten starts, but he was far from that tonight.
Dan Haren, who was making his first start since coming off of the disabled list due to back stiffness was the complete opposite of Harrison through the first three innings, but on just two pitches in the top of the fourth inning the Rangers turned it around, a Michael Young single right up the middle started it off — the first hit of the night for the Rangers, a batter later Nelson Cruz crushed his twelve home run of the year to straightway center field to cut the halos lead to one. Haren would get out of the inning with the lead still in tact however.
Haren would not allow another run the rest of the way in his six inning return to the halos staff, he allowed two runs on three hits, Stuck out three in his 95 pitches of work tonight. His first quality start since May 29th.
Matt Harrison’s night would end in the seventh after Bobby Wilson deposited his first home run of the year in the left field bullpen, yes Bobby Wilson actually hit a home run. Harrison went 6.0 innings tonight and allowed four runs on eight hits, picks up his fifth loss on the season
The Angels would tact on two more runs in the bottom half of the seventh as Albert Pujols went deep for the 463rd time in his career to give the Angels a 7-3 lead.
Kevin Jepsen, Scott Downs and Ernesto Frieri came out of the bullpen tonight, Downs allowed one run but both Frieri and Jepsen pitched scoreless innings. However, the Rangers made it interesting at the end as they had the bases loaded and just one out, but Frieri was able to get the final two outs of the inning and celebrate with a win.
Frieri got Josh Hamilton to strike out to end the game, his third strikeout in the game and finished a pretty forgettable series for Hamilton, who went just 2 for 14 over the weekend.
The Ranger will now leave southern California and the Angels welcome in the struggling Kansas City Royals for a three game series that starts Monday night, first pitch scheduled for 7:05 PM. C.J. Wilson (9-6, 2.82) will toe the rubber for the halos and he will be opposed by Bruce Chen (7-8, 5.57)
