Jered Weaver gets confidence back in 4-3 win over Dodgers

The last we saw of Jered Weaver, the Angels ace was corkscrewing his lanky 6-foot-7, 210-pound frame into the mound at Texas on April 7, his left elbow buckling as he hit the ground to avoid a wicked line drive off the bat of Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland.

Weaver was considerably more upright Wednesday night, standing tall and sturdy on the Angel Stadium mound in his first game back after missing seven weeks because of a left elbow fracture.

A 20-game winner last season, Weaver gave the Angels a huge shot in the arm, yielding one run and five hits, striking out seven and walking none in six innings of a 4-3 victory over the Dodgers.

BOX SCORE: Angels 4, Dodgers 3

“He was amped up — it was almost like opening day again for him,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He knows what he means to us and what he can do on the mound, and you saw it tonight. Getting a bona fide Cy Young Award candidate back in your rotation has to lift a team’s confidence.”

Mark Trumbo broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth with a two-out, two-run homer off Dodgers starter Chris Capuano, his 12th of the season, and he followed Mike Trout’s double and Albert Pujols’ single with a sacrifice fly for a huge insurance run in the seventh.

Kevin Jepsen retired the side in order in the seventh, Garrett Richards threw a 1-2-3 eighth, and Ernesto Frieri absorbed a pair of ninth-inning solo homers by Adrian Gonzalez and Scott Van Slyke before closing out the Dodgers, securing his 11th save, a white-knuckle effort, when Skip Schumaker flied to left.

It was another tough night for struggling Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp, and not just because he grounded out and struck out twice in three at-bats, his average falling to .251 with 60 strikeouts.

A day after he was struck in the right elbow by a pitch, Kemp was helped off the field Wednesday night game in the seventh inning because of a mild right hamstring strain, an injury he suffered chasing Trout’s double. An MRI test is scheduled for Thursday.

Weaver made only two starts before going on the disabled list, and he felt helpless as he watched the Angels get off to another awful start, the low point coming when they fell to 15-27 and 12 games behind Texas on May 17.

But the Angels (24-29) have won nine of 11 games since to pull to within 81/2 games of the Rangers, and getting Weaver back should help.

Weaver, after carving the initials “L.Y.” into the mound in honor of Dr. Lewis Yocum, the Angels team physician who died Saturday night, retired the first 12 batters Wednesday night, three by strikeout, the first on a 91-mph fastball to Carl Crawford to lead off the game.

“The most nerve-wracking part was getting the first out,” Weaver said. “When you haven’t been out there for a while, you kind of ask yourself, ‘Can I still do this?’ As soon as you get the first out, you get the confidence back.”

Weaver’s fastball averaged 87 mph, “and it definitely had that late life we’re used to seeing,” Scioscia said. Weaver’s breaking ball and changeup were sharp.

“It’s been a long road, and there were a lot of frustrating times in the six weeks,” Weaver said. “I like to take the ball every fifth day, but sometimes you have to sit back and let things heal. It took me a while to grasp that, but tonight made it all worth it.”

The Angels took a 1-0 lead on doubles by Chris Iannetta and Erick Aybar in the second. Andre Ethier broke up Weaver’s perfect game with a double to right to lead off the fifth.

Weaver struck out Kemp and Van Slyke, but Schumaker dunked a broken-bat RBI single to center for a 1-1 tie. The Dodgers loaded the bases on A.J. Ellis’ broken-bat single and Luis Cruz’ infield single, but Weaver got Crawford to ground to first, ending the inning.

“That was awesome,” Weaver said, “a step in the right direction.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeDiGiovanna