ANAHEIM, Calif. – Erick Aybar hit his first leadoff homer and Bobby Abreu added a two-run shot, leading Jered Weaver and the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Monday night.
Weaver (3-0) allowed a run and seven hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking one. It’s the first time the right-hander has won his first three decisions since 2006, when he joined Livan Hernandez and Hall of Famer Whitey Ford as the only pitchers to go 9-0 in their first 12 big league starts.
Cleveland’s David Huff (1-3) gave up five runs and 12 hits over 5 1/3 innings in his second start since beating Texas with a four-hitter on April 15. The former UCLA left-hander worked with runners in scoring position in each of the first five innings and allowed the leadoff man to reach base in five of the first six.
Angels designated hitter Hideki Matsui singled in the fifth for his 1,000th hit in the majors, lining a 2-2 pitch to right field. His first career hit was an RBI single against Roy Halladay in his first big league at-bat on March 31, 2003, with the New York Yankees at Toronto.
Last year’s World Series MVP had 1,390 hits for the Yomiuri Giants during his 10-year career in Japan, where he was a three-time MVP of the Central League and a three-time home run and RBI champion.
Kevin Jepsen took over for Weaver in the seventh and became the second Angels reliever on this homestand to walk the bases loaded – along with Scot Shields. But the Angels got out of the inning unscathed, as Jepsen struck out cleanup hitter Travis Hafner and retired Russell Branyan on a groundout.
Austin Kearns led off the Cleveland eighth against Brian Stokes with his first home run of the season and third hit of the game. But Fernando Rodney got the last two outs of the inning and Brian Fuentes pitched a hitless ninth for his third save.
The Angels grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first, as Huff threw 28 pitches and gave up hits to the first three batters. Aybar drove his second delivery of the game into the lower seats in the left-field corner for his 10th homer in 1,223 big league at-bats and first since Aug. 8, 2008, against Texas’ Eddie Guardado.
Torii Hunter’s double sent Abreu to third, and Matsui drove him in with a sacrifice fly. Hunter scored on Juan Rivera’s two-out bloop single.
The Indians got one back in the second on a two-out single by Jhonny Peralta, who entered in a 4-for-33 rut that had lowered his average to .154.
Abreu made it 5-1 in the sixth, driving Huff’s 104th and final pitch about 10 rows back in the elevated seats in right-center on a 2-0 count for his fourth homer after striking out in his previous two at-bats.
Notes
The Angels’ bullpen added six walks to its season total. They are the only team in the majors whose relievers have allowed more walks than the starting pitchers (45-32).
** When Weaver struck out Asdrubal Cabrera in a 12-pitch at-bat leading off the third, he reached the 700-inning mark in his career – a span in which he compiled a 53-27 record with a 3.69 ERA and 577 strikeouts.
