Weaver strikes it big, as do Kendrick, Hunter

He does not have a 96-mph fastball or a breaking ball you’d describe as “nasty.” In terms of pure stuff, he is not overpowering. There isn’t a manager or coach or scout who would put him in the same class as Ubaldo Jimenez, Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum.

But there atop the major league leader board for strikeouts Saturday was Jered Weaver, who gave up just two singles in seven innings, struck out 11 and walked none to lead the Angels to a 12-0 interleague victory over the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field.

“I don’t know, man,” Weaver said, when asked why he’s racking up so many strikeouts -- 107 -- this season. “I’m not trying to do it, but I’ve been getting ahead of batters a lot more than I used to. When you get yourself in 0-2 and 1-2 counts, you’re going to get some strikeouts. It’s a little surprising, but I’m feeling pretty good.”

The Angels gave Weaver a big cushion with a four-run first inning, which featured Howie Kendrick’s leadoff home run to right field, singles by Kevin Frandsen and Bobby Abreu and Juan Rivera’s three-run double to center field.

They continued to pour it on, with Abreu collecting four hits to improve his Wrigley Field average to .368 (43 for 117), two runs and a run batted in; Kendrick adding two run-scoring singles; and Torii Hunter hitting a two-run home run in the fifth inning.

The Angels are 12-2 in their last 14 road games and 22-17 overall away from home after starting the season 6-12 on the road. They have 36 home runs in their last 28 road games and baseball’s second-best interleague record (115-76) since 2000.

Weaver’s start Saturday was his first in Wrigley Field, and as a fly-ball pitcher, he couldn’t have been thrilled when he saw the flags above the old stadium whipped into a frenzy by a stiff breeze blowing out to right field.

The right-hander joked that when he took the mound, his first thought was to “make ‘em hit it to left field.” But neither Weaver nor catcher Bobby Wilson altered the game plan.

“Always pitch to a pitcher’s strengths first and then the hitter’s weaknesses,” Wilson said. “It doesn’t matter if the wind is blowing out 100 mph, I’m going with his best stuff.”

For Weaver, that means a well-placed four-seam fastball that tops out at about 92 mph, a sinking two-seam fastball, a slow overhand curve and one of the game’s better changeups, all delivered from an across-the-body windup that adds deception.

The Cubs haven’t seen Weaver outside of spring training, and they looked lost against him Saturday. They went down swinging seven times and looking four times, and they were unable to get a runner to second base.

Weaver, who also flared a single to right field in the seventh inning -- “I was just trying to fillet it out there like Ichiro,” he said -- and scored once, improved to 7-3 with a 3.04 earned-run average and looks like a strong candidate to make his first All-Star game.

“Where he wanted to throw the ball today, he threw it,” Wilson said. “Shoot, we didn’t even throw a changeup until the fourth or fifth inning. We were going fastball to both sides of the plate and breaking balls.

“Then he started mixing in that changeup, and you could almost feel the hitters going, ‘Oh, geez, now he’s got something else he can throw for a strike.’ He was on point today.”

Though Weaver rarely blows fastballs by hitters, Manager Mike Scioscia thinks he has a better arm than people give him credit for.

“His ability to command the ball with his deception makes his fastball play up a bit,” Scioscia said. “He has great breaking-ball command and a terrific changeup. Put that all together, and you have a guy who can get a strikeout, and that was important today, with that wind blowing hard out to right field.”

--

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com