Bobby Abreu’s 10th-inning home run lifts Angels, 2-1
The Angels’ clubhouse got a little raucous Wednesday, and it had nothing to do with a 2-1 win over Kansas City, a victory forged primarily on the arm of Jered Weaver and the bat of Bobby Abreu, whose 10th-inning home run gave the Angels their seventh walk-off win of the season and a three-game sweep of the Royals.
Players gathered around the television to watch ESPN’s video montage of baseball’s top-10 bench-clearing brawls, cheering wildly as Nolan Ryan gripped a young Robin Ventura in a headlock and screaming in delight as Lou Piniella and Carlton Fisk exchanged blows after a play at the plate.
It all seemed kind of fitting for a team that is feeling a little pugnacious after winning five of six games to move to within 7 ÃÂÃ Â games of the first-place Texas Rangers in the American League West.
“We’ve got a lot of fight left in us,” said right fielder Torii Hunter, who returned to the lineup Wednesday after serving a four-game suspension for a heated argument with an umpire Friday in Detroit. “It’s not over for us.
“A lot of people look at it and say it’s over, but we’re competitors, and there’s no way a player will tell you it’s over unless it’s Sept. 29 and you’re down by 10 games. Then, it’s over.”
The Angels didn’t exactly pummel one of the game’s heavyweights this week. The Royals are in last place in the AL Central, and the Angels outscored them, 11-6, in three games.
But they did outlast one of baseball’s best pound-for-pound pitchers in Zack Greinke, the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner, who gave up one run and six hits in eight innings Wednesday.
That’s because Weaver, the Angels’ ace, also gave up one run and six hits in eight innings, striking out 11 to bring his major league-leading strikeout total to 182.
Weaver’s stuff wasn’t as “crisp” as it usually is, Manager Mike Scioscia said, but the right-hander kept the Royals off balance by changing speeds on his fastball and curve and throwing his changeup effectively.
Weaver threw a season-high 121 pitches, 84 for strikes, and escaped first-and-third, one-out jams in the seventh and eighth innings to preserve a 1-1 tie.
After Alex Gordon singled with one out and reached third base on Mike Aviles’ single in the seventh inning, Weaver struck out Brayan Pena with a slow curve and got Yuniesky Betancourt to fly to center field.
Mitch Maier singled with one out in the eighth inning and got to third base on Billy Butler’s single. Kila Ka’aihue popped out to first, and after Wilson Betemit walked to load the bases, Weaver got Gordon to hit a slow roller down the first base line, Weaver fielding the ball and tagging Gordon to end the inning.
“The ball wasn’t coming out of his hand as well as it has been, but that was the best job he’s done this year of pitching,” Scioscia said of Weaver. “He really changed speeds well, used his breaking ball, and mixed in his changeup later in the game.”
The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Reggie Willits reached on a fielder’s choice, moved to third base on Abreu’s bloop single to left-center field — “That was an excellent read by Reggie,” Scioscia said — and scored on Erick Aybar’s sacrifice fly.
Betancourt hit a home run in the sixth inning to tie the score, 1-1, but Weaver’s escape acts in the seventh and eighth innings and scoreless innings by Kevin Jepsen and Brian Fuentes set the stage for Abreu, who smashed a Jesse Chavez changeup into the right-field seats for his game winner in the 10th.
Abreu is batting .375 (nine for 24) with two homers, two doubles and six runs batted in since moving Friday from the third spot in the order to leadoff, and the Angels have won five of six games since the switch.
“When Bobby is swinging like he is now, you can use him in any spot,” Scioscia said. “But right now, we’re going to use him as a table setter.”
mike.digiovanna@latimes.com
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