AMERICAN LEAGUE

Weaver’s short day a success thanks to offense

— Five innings on a muggy afternoon were enough this time for Jered Weaver.

Weaver won his seventh consecutive start to tie a career best and Torii Hunter (Pine Bluff), Mike Trout and Bobby Wilson homered for the Los Angeles Angels in an 11-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.

“Anytime your team gives you eight runs to work with, the last thing you want to do is go out there and throw only five innings,” Weaver said. “It was a rough one, but we came out on top, which was the most important thing.”

The Angels won without slugger Albert Pujols, who was out because of a bruised right elbow.

Weaver (13-1) threw 101 pitches, allowing 2 runs and 3 hits. His league-leading ERA rose from 2.20 to 2.27 because of Billy Butler’s tworun home run in the fifth.

“If you can get two runs off of Weaver and get him out after the fifth inning, you’ve done a real good job,” Royals Manager Ned Yost said. “We did both of those things, but the score was lopsided by then.

“We did exactly what we wanted to do with Weaver. He’s a guy who’s got great command, never gives in, throws the ball off the corners trying to get you to swing at it, but we did a good job of taking those pitches.”

WHITE SOX 8, TWINS 2 Dayan Viciedo homered and drove in four runs, and host Chicago beat Minnesota. Alex Rios also homered for the White Sox, who have won 10 of their past 11 home games.

YANKEES 5, MARINERS 2 Pinch-hitter Jayson Nix lined a three-run double off Seattle reliever Shawn Kelley in the eighth inning, and visiting New York rallied for a victory. ATHLETICS 16, BLUE JAYS 0 Coco Crisp hit two home runs and Yoenis Cespedes had two RBI doubles, leading visiting Oakland over Toronto. RANGERS 5, RED SOX 3 Derek Holland (7-5) struck out seven and pitched into the eighth inning and host Texas took advantage of a couple of wild throws by Josh Beckett to score the goahead run in a victory over Boston.

RAYS 10, ORIOLES 1 David Price (14-4) allowed one run over seven innings to earn his major league-leading 14th victory, Ryan Roberts homered and scored three runs in his Tampa Bay debut and the Rays cruised past host Baltimore.

TIGERS 5, INDIANS 3 Max Scherzer (10-5) allowed two runs over seven innings to win his fourth consecutive decision and visiting Detroit beat Cleveland.

National League

BRAVES 7, MARLINS 1 Juan Francisco homered and drove in three runs, helping visiting Atlanta beat Miami.

NATIONALS 5, METS 2 Stephen Strasburg struck out 11 in seven dominant innings, Michael Morse and Danny Espinosa hit consecutive home runs and visiting Washington completed a sweep of free-falling New York.

PADRES 6, GIANTS 3 Jesus Guzman hit two home runs and Chase Headley had one to hand Tim Lincecum another setback, powering visiting San Diego past San Francisco.

PHILLIES 7, BREWERS 6 Jimmy Rollins hit an RBI single off Francisco Rodriguez with two outs in the 10th and host Philadelphia rallied in its last at-bat for the fourth consecutive day. PIRATES 3, CUBS 2 Kevin Correia, in jeopardy of losing his spot in Pittsburgh’s crowded starting rotation, pitched six effective innings and Garrett Jones hit a tiebreaking double to lead the Pirates to a victory over visiting Chicago. Correia (8-6) gave up just two runs and four hits.

REDS 5, ASTROS 3 Drew Stubbs hit a twoout, two-run double in the ninth inning that rallied visiting Cincinnati past Houston.

CARDINALS 3, DODGERS 2 Rafael Furcal singled home the winning run with two outs in the 12th inning and host St. Louis dampened the Dodgers debut of Hanley Ramirez, beating Los Angeles. Ramirez tripled on the first pitch he saw with his new team. The three-time All-Star infielder, acquired late Tuesday night from Miami, went 2 for 4 with a walk. He drove in a run and scored once.

Wednesday’s games

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Washington 5, NY Mets 2 Pittsburgh 3, Chicago Cubs 2 Atlanta 7, Miami 1 Philadelphia 7, Milwaukee 6 (10) San Diego 6, San Francisco 3 Cincinnati 5, Houston 3 St. Louis 3, LA Dodgers 2 (12) Colorado at Arizona, (n)

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Chicago White Sox 8, Minnesota 2 LA Angels 11, Kansas City 6 NY Yankees 5, Seattle 2 Detroit 5, Cleveland 3 Tampa Bay 10, Baltimore 1 Oakland 16, Toronto 0 Texas 5, Boston 3

Sports, Pages 22 on 07/26/2012

Upcoming Events