Angels' Ervin Santana shares A.L. Player of the Week honors

Ervin Santana only pitched once last week but his no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday was good enough to earn him a share of the American League's Player of the Week honors.

Kansas City's Billy Butler was also recognized after batting .406 with two doubles, five home runs and 12 RBI in seven games.

Santana struck out a season-high 10 and walked just one in pitching his first career no-hitter in a 3-1 win in Cleveland. The Indians scored in the first inning on an error, stolen base and wild pitch but Santana was brilliant from that point on, turning in the first no-hitter in Progressive Field history and the ninth in Angels history This is Santana’s first Player of the Week award.

-- Kevin Baxter, reporting from Detroit

Angels: Santana no-hitter is no blast from the past

Ervin Santana’s latest visit to Cleveland was far better than his first.

The Angels’ pitcher threw a no-hitter against the Indians on Wednesday in the same stadium where he made his major league debut on May 17, 2005. Cleveland put out the welcome mat that day, as the first four Indians' batters hit for the cycle.

Grady Sizemore tripled and Coco Crisp followed with a double -- and was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. Travis Hafner singled and Ben Broussard launched a 416-foot home run for a 3-1 lead.

Santana lasted four innings and allowed six runs in Cleveland’s 13-5 victory.

"I was going too fast to the plate that first inning," Santana said after that game. "Today, everything was up. Everything was down the middle. I'll be better next time."

He was on Wednesday.

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Ervin Santana throws a no-hitter against Cleveland Indians

This time, Angels' Jordan Walden slams the door shut

-- Chris Foster

Photo: Angels starter Ervin Santana, center, is congratulated by teammates Bobby Wilson, left, and Mark Trumbo after throwing a no-hitter in a 3-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday. Credit: Mark Duncan / Associated Press

Santana pitches Angels past Orioles, 6-1

No team in baseball has a better record over the last 5 1/2 weeks than the Angels. But on the mound, at least, it's been pretty much a two-man show with the Angels going 12-3 in games started by Jered Weaver and Dan Haren and 10-7 in games started by anybody else.

On Friday, pitching in sauna-like conditions in Baltimore, right-hander Ervin Santana turned in an effort worthy of his two stellar teammates, holding the Orioles hitless for 5 1/3 innings, then watching Vernon Wells belt a two-out grand slam in the ninth inning that put the finishing touches on a  6-1 Angel win.

Despite a game-time temperature of 104 degrees, Santana permitted just one Oriole to baserunner through the first five innings, and that came in the second when Luke Scott reached on a two-out fielding error by second baseman Maicer Izturis. Right fielder Torii Hunter helped keep the no-hitter alive with a splendid running catch on Derrek Lee's slicing line drive leading off the fifth.

But the spell was broken an inning later when Blake Davis battled through a seven-pitch at-bat before one-hopping a double off the wall in the left-field corner.