Angels continue their road warrior ways in 12-0 victory over Chicago Cubs

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Jered Weaver gave up only two singles over seven shutout innings, struck out 11 and walked none to lead the Angels to a 12-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field on Saturday. Weaver, who did not allow a runner to second base, now leads the major leagues with 107 strikeouts after notching his fifth game with 10 or more strikeouts.

Bobby Abreu had four hits, scored two runs and drove in a run, and Howie Kendrick had three hits, including a home run, and three RBIs to lead the Angels offense.

The Angels are now 12-2 in their last 14 road games and 22-17 overall on the road after starting the season 6-12 away from home. They have connected for 36 home runs over their last 28 road games. They also hold the second-best interleague record (115-76) in baseball since 2000.

The Angels did most of their damage against one of baseball’s hottest pitchers, Ted Lilly, who carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning of his last start, a 1-0 victory over the White Sox last Sunday, and gave up only four earned runs in 30 2/3 innings of his previous four starts.

But the left-hander gave up four runs in the first inning Saturday and lost his no-hitter on the game’s fourth pitch, which Kendrick lofted for a wind-aided home run to right field. Kevin Frandsen and Abreu singled, and after Torii Hunter struck out, Mike Napoli walked to load the bases. Juan Rivera drove a three-run double to deep center for a 4-0 lead.

Lilly retired 11 of the next 14 batters, six by strikeout, but Abreu singled with one out in the fifth, and Hunter drove a two-run homer to left-center for a 6-0 lead. Hunter is batting only .235 (4 for 17) in his career against Lilly, but three of those hits are homers.

The Angels tacked on two more unearned runs in the sixth inning, a rally Lilly added by throwing Weaver’s potential double-play grounder into center field for an error. Kendrick hit an run-scoring single to right, knocking Lilly out of the game, and Abreu had an RBI single to left off reliever Jeff Stevens for an 8-0 lead.

The Angels added another run in the seventh on Kendrick’s RBI singled and three runs in the ninth, which featured Brandon Wood’s RBI single and Frandsen’s RBI double.

--Mike DiGiovanna, reporting from Chicago