Angels deliver in the clutch
The Angels hit the skids in Chicago and Oakland last week, going 1-6 against the White Sox and Athletics on their last trip before the All-Star break.
Thursday night, they popped the clutch.
After tallying seven hits — total — with runners in scoring position in those seven road games, the Angels racked up seven hits in 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position Thursday night for an 8-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners in Angel Stadium.
Erick Aybar had three hits and three runs batted in, Jeff Mathis had three hits and two runs, and Bobby Abreu had two hits and three RBIs, as an Angels club that hit .189 and was outscored, 44-14, on the last trip opened the second half on a high note.
“The one statistic that really sticks out tonight is hitting with runners in scoring position,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Great job tonight, big clutch hits from Erick Aybar and Bobby Abreu, and that fueled what we did on the offensive side.”
The Angels, who remained 41/2 games behind the Texas Rangers in the American League West, also got another strong start by Joel Pineiro, who gave up three runs and six hits in seven innings, striking out four and walking one, to improve to 10-6.
The right-hander, signed to a two-year, $16-million deal last winter, has won seven consecutive decisions since June 6 and has a 2.51 earned-run average in his last eight starts.
“Defense and good run support, that’s all I can ask for,” said Pineiro, whose teammates have backed him with an average of 7.1 runs a game in his last eight starts.
“I’m not going to strike out a lot of guys; I’m going to let them put the ball in play. We made a couple of nice plays today and scored some runs. It’s a good start for us in the second half.
“Hopefully we can keep it going.”
The Angels offense has been spotty, productive for long stretches this season, sluggish for long stretches, but several of their 16 hits Thursday night came at key moments, and they put the game away with a two-out, three-run rally in the sixth.
“For a long time, we had some soft spots in the lineup, some guys who were not in their game,” Scio-
scia said. “Pressuring teams every third inning isn’t going to get it done. We need that lineup to be deep, and tonight everyone chipped in.”
After Aybar’s leadoff single and Abreu’s RBI double in the first gave the Angels a 1-0 lead, the Angels bunched five hits together for three runs in the second, the first time since last Aug. 30 they had five straight hits.
Paul McAnulty, Kevin Frandsen and Mathis each singled to load the bases. Aybar stroked a two-run single to right, and Howie Kendrick flared an RBI double to right, but Ichiro Suzuki’s strong throw home nailed Aybar, who also tried to score on Kendrick’s hit.
The Mariners pulled to within 4-3 in the fifth when Michael Saunders, Rob Johnson and Jack Wilson singled to load the bases and Suzuki hit a three-run double to right-center.
Suzuki took third on Chone Figgins’ grounder to second, but Frandsen made a nice backhand stop of Franklin Gutierrez’s hard grounder to third and threw out Suzuki at home.
“It was important for Pineiro to get out of the fifth with a lead,” Scioscia said. “And Kevin made a great play to facilitate that.”
The Angels pulled away in the sixth.
Mathis doubled to left with two out, Aybar hit an RBI single to left-center, Kendrick doubled off third baseman Jose Lopez’s glove and Abreu hit a two-run single to center to make it 7-3.
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