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Weaver strikes out 10 in victory over Blue Jays

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The complete list of starting pitchers with a better earned-run average than Jered Weaver:

Zack Greinke.

Johan Santana.

That is all.

The All-Star game appears on the horizon for Weaver. In perhaps the most dominant performance of a breakout season, Weaver set a career high with 10 strikeouts and scattered three hits over seven innings, leading the Angels to an 8-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday at the Rogers Centre.

“I’ve been able to get on a good roll,” he said.

He took a no-hitter into the fifth inning. He gave up one run for the third consecutive start and fifth time in six starts, lowering his ERA to 2.26.

Greinke, the unhittable one, is at 1.10. Santana, arguably the best pitcher in baseball, is at 2.00.

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Then comes Weaver. John Lackey won a spot on the American League All-Star team two years ago. Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana did so last year.

Weaver (5-2) could give the Angels four homegrown All-Star starting pitchers within three years.

“If it happens, it happens,” Weaver said. “It would be nice to have that under your belt. It would be fun, that’s for sure.”

The Angels had some fun at bat on Wednesday. Bobby Abreu homered, doubled and drove in four runs. Chone Figgins had three hits, including two doubles.

Vladimir Guerrero doubled, singled and walked, giving him seven hits in his last four games, including three for extra bases. In his previous four games -- his first since the Angels activated him from the disabled list -- he had two hits, none for extra bases.

The Angels started something of a binary lineup, including seven players with either one home run or none.

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But one of those players, Abreu, hit his second home run of the season as the second batter of the game, following a single by Figgins. Juan Rivera’s sacrifice fly later in the inning gave Weaver a 3-0 lead before he took the mound.

Weaver did not waver. He struck out the side in the first inning and again in the sixth, mastering a grip on his slider that he has worked on since spring training and mixing the slider effectively with his changeup and fastball.

No Angels pitcher had struck out 10 this season, and Weaver never had done that.

“It’s nice to be able to get to double digits, finally,” he said.

With the development of the slider, Weaver could reinvent himself as a strikeout pitcher, catcher Jeff Mathis said.

“I don’t think he looks at himself that way,” Mathis said. “But if he throws the fastball to both sides of the plate and his slider stays like it is, he can get more punchouts.”

Weaver started his career 9-0, but Manager Mike Scioscia said inconsistency and injury had prevented Weaver from maintaining that level.

“When he first came up, he showed flashes of potential to be one of the top pitchers in our league,” Scioscia said. “You have to do it over time. You have to show consistency.”

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Scioscia said he considered Lackey and Toronto ace Roy Halladay among baseball’s elite.

Weaver posted a 2.56 ERA in 2006, then 3.91 in 2007 and 4.33 last year, now 2.26 this year. Scioscia said year-in, year-out consistency defines an elite pitcher, for Weaver or anyone else.

“His game is where it needs to be for him to have the opportunity to put himself in that elite class of starting pitchers,” Scioscia said. “Time will tell.”

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bill.shaikin@latimes.com

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