Angels avoid no-hitter but not loss

For the first month of the season, the Angels' Jered Weaver was the best pitcher in baseball.

But for eight innings Saturday, he was no better than the second-best pitcher on the mound at Target Field. That's because the Twins' Anthony Swarzak, who was in the minor leagues less than two weeks ago, came within five outs of a no-hitter before Peter Bourjos lined a double just inside third base with one out in the eighth.

The Twins won the game, 1-0, in the 10th on Danny Valencia's bases-loaded walk-off single, which scored pinch-runner Jason Repko from third.

Justin Morneau started the winning rally with a line-drive single to center off lefty reliever Hisanori Takahashi with one out. Former Dodger Repko came in to run for Morneau while the Angels brought in right-hander Kevin Jepsen to face Michael Cuddyer.

Struggles continue for Weaver in 4-1 Angel loss

Could it be there's something ailing Jered Weaver?

Or is it simply that he's proving to be human after all?

Either way the struggling Angels ace clearly wasn't himself again Friday and Texas took advantage, getting seven hits and four runs in six innings of a 4-1 Rangers win.

In his first six starts this season, Weaver was 6-0 with a 0.99 earned-run average. In his last three, he's 0-3 with a 5.50 ERA.

After averaging nearly eight innings in his first six starts, he hasn't gone past the sixth in his last three.

It's the first time Weaver has had three consecutive starts in which he's thrown six or fewer innings and allowed at least three runs since July 2009. Weaver finished with six strikeouts and a walk. And the two home runs he gave up matched his total from his previous eight starts this season.

Luck runs out for Weaver, Angels in Boston

The Angels' Jered Weaver lived a charmed life in cruising to victories in his first six starts this season. But that luck ran out Monday, when the Boston Red Sox beat Weaver, then battered the Angels'  bullpen, in a 9-5 win at Fenway Park.

The game turned on two key at-bats in the fifth inning -- and both went against Weaver and the Angels.

The first came with one out and Carl Crawford at second, the recipient of a gift double when left fielder Vernon Wells failed to cut off his opposite-field liner, letting it roll to the wall.  Weaver threw a 2-2 pitch to Jason Varitek that looked like a strike but was called a ball by plate umpire Scott Barry.

Weaver immediately lost his cool and his mood didn't  improve when he walked Varitek.  After an infield out, Dustin Pedoria battled  through a 13-pitch at-bat, fouling off seven two-strike pitchers before lining the next delivery up the middle for a two-run single.

Weaver hadn't given up that many runs in an inning, much less on one pitch, in more than two weeks. And his night -- as well as his perfect season -- ended five batters later when he left trailing, 3-2. He gave up six hits and a season-high three earned runs in six innings, his shortest outing of the year.

Boston then pounded relievers Hisanori Takahashi and Francisco Rodriguez for five hits, including Adrian Gonzalez's three-run double and a two-run homer by David Ortiz, in a six-run seventh. That's one more earned run than the Angels' bullpen had given up in its previous eight games combined.

Angels drop Vernon Wells in lineup

Scratching Jered Weaver from his scheduled start Sunday wasn't the only lineup change Angels Manager Mike Scioscia made.

Outfielder Vernon Wells, who has hit fourth or fifth all season, was dropped to the No. 6 spot while Howie Kendrick was moved to third in the batting order for the first time. Wells is hitting .174 while Kendrick, with five hits in his last two games, is batting .306 and leading the team with six homers.

"Vernon obviously has not hit stride," Scioscia said of Wells, who is one for eight in the Tampa series. "We need him, but we have some guys who have been swinging the bat better."

One of those is Alberto Callaspo, who also moved up a spot in the batting order to fifth. Callaspo sat out Saturday after going three for four Friday, raising his season average to .303.

As for Weaver, who leads the majors with a 6-0 record, the pitcher said he has been dealing with a stomach virus for two days, losing nine pounds. He needed to leave the stadium at one point this weekend to receive fluids intravenously, and although he said he felt better Sunday, Scioscia decided his pitcher was at too great a risk of dehydration to start. The Angels will check Weavers's condition Monday, when he is tentatively scheduled to start against Boston in the opener of a four-game series at Fenway Park.

He is expected to be opposed by Boston's Clay Buchholz, who also missed his scheduled start Sunday with what was termed "intestinal turmoil."

Rookie Tyler Chatwood will go Sunday against the Rays and Alex Cobb, who will be making his major-league debut.

Angels' Jered Weaver scratched from start with illness

Jered Weaver was scratched from his scheduled start Sunday in Tampa Bay. Rookie Tyler Chatwood, who was scheduled to start Monday in Boston, will take Weaver's place.

Illness was believed to be the reason for Weaver being scratched, though the right-hander has thrown 681 pitches -- third most in the majors -- and averaged 113 pitches in his six starts this season. He averaged 109 pitches in 34 starts last season and would have been pitching with an extra day of rest Sunday.

Weaver, 6-0 with a 0.99 earned-run average, leads the majors in wins and tops the American League in strikeouts (49) and opponents' batting average (1.63) in 45 2/3 innings. He threw his fifth career shutout in his last start, making him just the fourth pitcher in history to go 6-0 before May 1.

-- Kevin Baxter in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Photo: Angels starting pitcher Jered Weaver reacts to a catch by center fielder Peter Bourjos during a victory over the Texas Rangers last week. Credit: Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press

Angels pitcher Jered Weaver denied a shot at history

The Angels will use Thursday’s off day to give their starters an extra day of rest, meaning Jered Weaver, who is 6-0 with a 0.99 earned run average in his first six starts, will not pitch again until Sunday in Tampa Bay.

That will deny Weaver a chance to become the first pitcher since 1891 to win seven games before May 1, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Baltimore’s Sadie McMahon was 9-0 through games of April 30 that season and went on to win 35 games for the 1891 Orioles.

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-- Mike DiGiovanna

Photo: Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jered Weaver. Credit: Mike Stone / Reuters

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."

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-- Kevin Baxter in Arlington, Texas

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

Jered Weaver makes history in latest triumph

An obscure -- but impressive -- fact lost in Jered Weaver's weather-defying 4-3 victory Friday over the Chicago White Sox is that the win made him the first pitcher in history to have four victories by April 14. And he's the first starter since Roger Clemens in 1991 to have four victories in his team's first 13 games.

Yet he may not even be the best pitcher in the Angels rotation.

Statistically speaking, a case could be made for Dan Haren (3-0) whose ERA of 0.76 is about half of Weaver's 1.30. Haren also has the staff's only complete game, a one-hit shutout of the Cleveland Indians in his last start.

Haren will face Chicago ace Mark Buehrle on Sunday, weather permitting. And the weather has been a question mark all weekend in Chicago. Saturday afternoon's game on Fox is expected to start with temperatures hovering near freezing. Rain is forecast for the evening.

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-- Kevin Baxter, reporting from Chicago

Photo: Angels starting pitcherJered Weaver on Friday night against the White Sox. Credit; Jerry Lai / US Presswire

Jered Weaver hopes to continue quick start against White Sox

Jered Weaver, scheduled to start Friday for the Angels in Chicago -- weather permitting -- is off to one of the best starts in club history. He's won all three of his starts, allowing just two runs in 20 2/3 innings for an ERA of 0.87. In his last outing, he struck out a career-high 15, giving him 27 on the season.

But his current hot streak started long before spring training. Weaver hasn't lost consecutive decisions since Sept. 4 and hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in a start since last August. His 30 quality starts since the beginning of last season are second only to Seattle's Felix Hernandez, the American League's reigning Cy Young award winner.

All those numbers figure to get better when Weaver faces the White Sox: Chicago has a career .193 batting average against the Angels' right-hander in seven career starts.

At the plate, veterans Bobby Abreu and Torii Hunter have impressive career numbers against the White Sox. Abreu is hitting .331 with 45 RBIs in 154 at-bats against Chicago, while Hunter, a former Minnesota Twin who has spent most of his career sharing the Central Division with the White Sox, has 26 home runs and 82 RBIs in 536 at-bats against them.

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-- Kevin Baxter in Chicago

Photo: Angels right-hander Jered Weaver. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Weaver, Angels survive another bullpen collapse in 5-3 win

Jered Weaver gave up a run and three hits in 6 2/3 innings and rookie Jordan Walden nailed down his first save of the season Tuesday, lifting the Angels to a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

Weaver (2-0) struck out six and retired the side in order three times, running his career record against the Rays to 4-1 with a 2.27 ERA in six starts. And the quality start was the 29th in 36 tries dating to the start of last season -- only reigning Cy Young award winner Felix Hernandez has more over that span.

The only run he gave up came in the third inning, when former Angel Sean Rodriguez drove a hanging slider into the left-center-field bleachers. But Weaver gave up just one more hit after that before turning the game over to the Angels' troubled bullpen, which nearly gave the game away.

Hisanori Takahashi replaced Weaver and walked the first batter he faced, then gave up a disputed infield single to the second, loading the bases. When the left-hander walked another man leading off the eighth, he was pulled in favor of Michael Kohn, who gave up a two-run homer to B.J. Upton.

Kohn eventually escaped the inning without further damage and Walden, handed the closer's role earlier in the day, pitched a perfect ninth to end the Angels' three-game losing streak.

The Angels jumped on Rays' starter Jeff Niemann early, scoring three first-inning runs on four singles and two stolen bases. They made it 4-0 in the second on a leadoff home run by Hank Conger, his first in the majors.

Then, after Rodriguez homered to get the Rays on the scoreboard, Howie Kendrick started the fifth with a triple and came home on Torii Hunter's second run-scoring single of the game.

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-- Kevin Baxter in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Photo: Angels starter Jered Weaver delivers a pitch during the Angels' 5-3 victory Tuesday. Credit: Mike Carlson / Associated Press

Angels' Jered Weaver aims to give battered bullpen a break

The Angels bullpen is in desperate need of a break after Sunday's wild, 13-inning loss to the Kansas City Royals in which they used all seven of their relievers, the first time they've done that since April 2002. So it's a good thing they're handing the ball to Jered Weaver on Tuesday against the Rays.

Weaver went 6 1/3 scoreless innings in his first outing in Kansas City, allowing just two hits. It was Weaver's 28th quality start since opening day last year, the second-best total in baseball behind only Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez of Seattle.

What's more, all five of Weaver's career starts against Tampa Bay have been quality outings, resulting in a 3-1 record and 2.45 ERA.

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-- Kevin Baxter in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Photo: Jered Weaver. Credit: Charlie Riedel / AP