Indians rally past Angels, 3-2, in the ninth

Travis Hafner doubled in the tying run with one out in the ninth and pinch-runner Orlando Cabrera scored the game-winner on Jason Kipnis' single four batters later as the Cleveland Indians rallied for a 3-2 walkoff win over the Angels on Monday, spoiling big nights for Bobby Abreu and Dan Haren.

Abreu, mired in a monthlong slump, had given the Angels a 2-1 lead an inning earlier with a two-run home run, his first since June 22. And Haren, after allowing a first-inning run on two hits, was brilliant, holding the Indians to one hit over the next 7 1/3 innings while matching a season high with 10 strikeouts.

But rookie closer Jordan Walden couldn't close things out in the ninth.

Michael Brantley led off the inning with a line-drive single just over a leaping Erick Aybar at short. Brantley then stole second and after Asdrubal Cabrera struck out, Hafner drove a pitch off the left-center-field wall to tie the game.

Hafner gave way to pinch-runner Cabrera, who moved to third when Walden walked Carlos Santana on a full-count pitch and hit Hannahan with the count 0-2.

Angels' Haren limps off field in pain

Potential bad news for the Angels: As the team was taking the field for batting practice before Wednesday's afternoon game with the Kansas City Royals, right-hander Dan Haren came limping off in obvious pain. Manager Mike Scioscia said Haren experienced pain in his back while throwing a bullpen session and went down hard.

Haren grimaced as he headed up the passageway to the Angel clubhouse and trainers' room and Scioscia wouldn't hazard a guess as to whether the problem was a simple muscle spasm or perhaps something more serious. Haren was being evaluated and the Angels promised an update later.

The team did have some good news, though, saying infielder Howie Kendrick, the team's leading hitter with a .322 average, will come off the disabled list in time for Saturday's game with the New York Yankees.

Angels escape with win over Texas Rangers, but Dan Haren gets nothing again

Given that this is Texas, it was no surprise that the biggest cheer at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Saturday came when Cowboys linebacker Bradie James threw out the first pitch.

He bounced it.

Then the Angels' Dan Haren took the mound and showed him how it's done -- though he, too, had little to show for it after his bullpen gave up an eighth-inning lead in a game the Angels rallied to win in the ninth, 3-2.

Maicer Izturis' two-out single to left scored Jeff Mathis with the go-ahead run one pitch after the Rangers believed the inning had ended on check-swing strike by Bobby Abreu. But third-base umpire Mike Muchlinski, working the game only because Tom Hallion was suffering the effects of a pitch that bounced off his mask late in Friday's game, said Abreu held up, leading to a walk and bringing Izturis to the plate.

Scott Downs (1-0), who retired the only batter he faced, wound up with the win, and Jordan Walden got the save, his seventh. But Haren, who allowed only one run in the 7 2/3 innings he was on the mound, got nothing.

Angels' Tyler Chatwood coming of age early

 

As Dan Haren stood in front of his locker following Sunday's win over the Chicago White Sox, the conversation quickly turned to how dominant he and Jered Weaver have been this season. But Haren was quick to force the name of another Southern California native into the conversation.

"Hey, Tyler Chatwood's in there too," he insisted.

A nervous Chatwood, a 2008 draft choice out of Redlands' East Valley High, gutted out five innings in his big-league debut at Angel Stadium during the last homestand, but he was much improved in his second outing, going seven strong innings to beat the White Sox over the weekend for his first major-league win. And it was something of a historic victory too.

Not only did it make Chatwood (at 21 years, 122 days) the youngest Angels pitcher to win a game since Francisco Rodriguez in April 2003, it made him the eighth-youngest Angels victor of all time. Only six other Angels starters have won a game at a younger age, and the last to do that was Mike Witt 20 years ago.

And while Chatwood is already pitching like a veteran, he's been handling himself that way too. Asked about pitching on the same staff with West Covina's Haren and Weaver of Simi Valley, the right-hander smiled and said, "It's an honor to be in the same rotation with guys like that."

RELATED:

Dan Haren named AL's co-player of the week

Angels stay hot in win over White Sox

-- Kevin Baxter in Arlington, Texas

Photo: Tyler Chatwood. Credit: Jerry Lai / U.S. Presswire.

Dan Haren (4-0) and the Angels stay hot in win over White Sox

Dan Haren ran his record to 4-0 by holding the Chicago White Sox scoreless through six innings Sunday, pitching the Angels to a 4-2 victory and a sweep of the teams' three-game series.

Haren, who threw a one-hit shutout in his last outing, was almost as good for most of Sunday, striking out four of the first five batters he faced and allowing just three harmless singles through 6 1/3 innings. He retired nine in a row at one point before Carlos Quentin broke the spell with a one-out double off the center-field wall in the seventh. Alex Rios then singled to the infield, marking the first time in 26 innings Haren has allowed two runners to reach base in the same inning.

A.J. Pierzynski followed with a single of his own to score Quentin, snapping Haren's scoreless streak at 18 2/3 innings. Haren faced one more hitter, Alexei Ramirez, who drove in another run with a single to left.

The Angels then turned to a quartet of relievers -- Hisanori Takahashi, Fernando Rodriguez, Fernando Rodney and Jordan Walden -- to get the last eight outs. It wasn't easy, though, with Walden loading the bases on a double and two walks before retiring Juan Pierre on a fly ball to end the game.

By then the Angels had given Haren and his bullpen more than enough offensive cushion. Maicer Izturis got the scoring started by doubling and scoring in each of his first two at-bats. He added a single in the seventh, giving him three consecutive three-hit games and leaving him 9 for 14 in the series.

Mark Trumbo added a solo homer, his second of the season, into the Angels bullpen in right-center in the fourth and Vernon Wells tripled off the top of the center-field wall and scored in the sixth.

The win was the fifth in a row for the Angels, who are 9-2 after losing three of their first four games to start the season.

-- Kevin Baxter, reporting from Chicago

Photo: Angels starting pitcher Dan Haren works against the White Sox on Sunday. Credit: Paul Beaty / Associated Press

Dan Haren pitches Angels past Rays, 5-1

Right-hander Dan Haren found a way around the Angels' bullpen problems Wednesday, pitching well enough to keep most of the team's relievers on the bench during a 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

Haren scattered four hits over 7 2/3 innings, striking out six and not issuing a walk. In two starts and 14 2/3 innings this season, Haren has yet to walk a batter.

Kevin Jepsen came on to get the final out in the eighth, retiring pinch-hitter Manny Ramirez on a fly ball to right. Ramirez is 1 for 17 this season. Rookie Jordan Walden, the Angels' newly minted closer, then came on to pitch a 1-2-3 ninth.

The Angels had trouble finding the ball against Rays' starter Jeremy Hellickson, who set a career high with 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings, twice striking out the side. But when they did hit the right-hander they hit him hard, with three of their first five hits going for extra bases.

Angels' Haren, Takahashi shine in 2-1 loss

Pitchers Dan Haren and Hisanori Takahashi stretched themselves out a bit Saturday, combining to pitch seven innings in the Angels' 2-1 Cactus League loss to the Cleveland Indians in Goodyear, Ariz.

Haren, pitching efficiently for the second start in a row, needed only about 50 pitches to get through five innings on a warm afternoon in which he was scheduled to leave after four. Haren then went down to the bullpen to throw 10 more pitches.

"I had to get more to a pitch count rather than innings," said Haren, who also worked on throwing inside to right-handed hitters.

Haren, who didn't allow a hit in three innings against the Cubs earlier in the week, gave up two runs on four hits in his five innings Saturday, striking out one and not walking a batter. Thanks to two double players behind him, he faced just two batters over the minimum 15 in his stint.

Takahashi, meanwhile, went two innings for the second time this spring and he didn't allow a baserunner, striking out three.

Asdrubal Cabrera made up most of the Cleveland offense, driving in the Indians' first run and scoring their second. In the opening inning, Cabrera singled to center to score Michael Brantley, who had singled and stolen second. In the fourth, a ground-run double by Shin-Soo Choo brought home Cabrera, who had also doubled, to make it 2-0.

The Angels' only run came on Chris Pettit's solo home run with two outs in the ninth. The Angels had six other hits, all singles, including one by Mark Trumbo and another by Brandon Wood. Catcher Jeff Mathis also had a single in three at-bats to raise his spring average to .316.

-- Kevin Baxter in Goodyear, Ariz.

Cubs rally to wild, windy win over Angels

Bryan LaHair's single to right scored Fernando Perez from third base with two outs in the ninth inning, lifting the Chicago Cubs to a wild 14-13 Cactus League win over the Angels at windy HoHoKam Park on Monday.

The rally was the second in as many innings for the Cubs, wiping out what was once a 10-run Angels lead and negating splendid performances by pitcher Dan Haren and slugger Mark Trumbo.

Haren didn't allow a ball to be hit out of the infield in his three-inning stint and Trumbo nearly hit two balls out of the state to help the Angels build a 12-2 lead after 5 1/2 innings.

Fernando Rodney, who followed Haren to the mound, wasn't nearly as sharp. The right-hander, who may soon be fighting to hang on to his closer's job, gave up two runs on five hits while getting three outs. This spring Rodney has faced 17 batters and more than half of them have reached base, seven on hits and two on walks.

But there were no struggles for the Angels on offense, especially when Trumbo was at the plate. The first baseman, competing for the final spot on the opening day roster, went four for four with three runs scored and two driven in. One of his hits was a mammoth home run over a four-story-high scoreboard that sits behind a grass berm well beyond the left-field wall. It was his third home run of the spring.

Angel veterans get the afternoon off [Updated]

It's common for veterans to get the afternoon off when their teams make long road trips early in spring training. And the Angels are no different, which is why six regulars were not in the lineup Wednesday for the team's Cactus League game with the defending American League champion Texas Rangers in Surprise, Ariz.

The trip to Surprise is just more than an hour from the Angels' training base in Tempe, but it's the longest the team will make this spring. So among those staying back were all three starting outfielders -- Vernon Wells, Peter Bourjos and Torii Hunter, who have played together the last two days -- as well as infielders Howie Kendrick and Erick Aybar, and designated hitter Bobby Abreu. The two regulars who are traveling, infielder Maicer Izturis and catcher Jeff Mathis, are batting at the top of the order, giving the impression that each will hit two or three times, then be excused for the rest of the day.

Early in the day there was no sign of rehabbing first baseman Kendry Morales, who missed the last two days of training with flu-like symptoms.

[Updated at 7:30 a.m.: Morales has arrived.]

On the mound, right-hander Dan Haren, acquired in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the middle of last summer, will make his first spring start as an Angel. The Rangers, meanwhile, are expected to play former Angel Mike Napoli.

The lineup:

3B -- Maicer Izturis

C -- Jeff Mathis

DH -- Alberto Callaspo

1B -- Mark Trumbo

CF -- Mike Trout

2B -- Alexi Amarista

SS -- Andrew Romine

RF -- Jeremy Moore

LF -- Chris Pettit

P -- Dan Haren

-- Kevin Baxter in Tempe, Ariz.

Dan Haren said he "should be on track" to make next start

Angels pitcher Dan Haren was encouraged by a long-toss session Tuesday afternoon and said he "should be on track" to make his next scheduled start Saturday against Texas at Angel Stadium.

Haren sustained a bruised right forearm in the fifth inning of his first start with the Angels on Monday when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of Boston's Kevin Youkilis. The right-hander left the game after allowing two runs in 4 2/3 innings.

Haren said Dr. Lewis Yocum, the Angels' medical director and team orthopedist, told Haren that if the ball had hit him an inch lower it would have been directly on the bone.

"I guess I got lucky," Haren said.

Haren tested the arm during what he described as a more vigorous throwing session than he usually makes on days after his starts, throwing all his pitches. He said he felt stiff but the longer he threw, the more the area loosened up.

--Ben Bolch