Angels ride Torii Hunter’s bat, Tyler Chatwood’s arm to 4-1 win over Braves
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Torii Hunter hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning and doubled and scored in the sixth, and Tyler Chatwood gave up one run and five hits in seven innings Sunday, leading the Angels to a 4-1 interleague victory over the Atlanta Braves.
Bobby Abreu added a run-scoring double in the seventh for his 534th career double, tying the Angels designated hitter with Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig for 32nd on baseball’s all-time list.
Hunter had gone 99 at-bats and 28 games without a home run before following Abreu’s leadoff walk in the fourth with a shot over the left-field wall, Hunter’s fifth homer of the season and first since April 21 against Boston.
That gave the Angels a 2-1 lead, which they extended to 3-1 in the sixth when Hunter doubled to left-center against Braves starter Derek Lowe, took third on Alberto Callaspo’s grounder to second and scored on Alexi Amarista’s grounder to short.
The Angels added an insurance run against reliever George Sherrill in the seventh when Erick Aybar bunted for a single and took second on third baseman Diory Hernandez’s throwing error and scored on Abreu’s double off the wall in right-center.
Chatwood had not made it out of the third inning of his previous start, when he gave up seven runs and seven hits in 2 1/3 innings of a 14-0 loss in Oakland on Tuesday night. But the 21-year-old right-hander showed that his shellacking in the Bay Area was more of an aberration than any indication the league has figured him out or that he is in over his head.
The Braves scored once off Chatwood, in the second inning when Freddie Freeman hit a two-out double to right and came home on Joe Mather’s single to left.
Showing none of the command problems that have plagued him this season -- he walked 27 in 44 innings of his first eight starts -- Chatwood struck out six and walked two.
Atlanta loaded the bases on with two outs in the third, on two singles and a walk, but Chatwood got Dan Uggla to foul out to first baseman Mark Trumbo, who leaned over the dugout railing to make a nice catch of the pop-up.
Chatwood (3-2) gave up one hit the rest of the way -- Freeman’s two-out single in the sixth -- but Freeman was thrown out trying to advance on a ball that bounced a few feet away from catcher Jeff Mathis, whose hard throw to second nailed Freeman.
Scott Downs pitched a scoreless eighth, and Jordan Walden added a scoreless ninth for his eighth save.
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