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Escobar's 15th win lifts Halos over Jays
2007-08-27
Kelvim Escobar recorded his career-high 15th victory, Garret Anderson homered and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 on Sunday to earn a split of the four-game series. Escobar (15-6) won his fourth straight start, allowing a run and five hits over eight innings with five strikeouts and no walks. The former Blue Jays right-hander was 14-11 with Toronto in 1999, his first full season in the majors, and spent four more seasons with them before signing with the Angels as a free agent in November 2003. He is 4-3 with a 1.84 ERA against his former team. Francisco Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth for his 33rd save in 37 chances. Dustin McGowan (8-8) allowed three runs and six hits in seven innings, striking out six and walking none. The loss was the right-hander's second to Escobar in a span of 11 days. Escobar retired his first 12 batters before Vernon Wells led off the fifth with a broken-bat single and stole second. Center fielder Gary Matthews Jr., trying to position himself for a throw to third with Wells tagging up on a routine flyball, dropped it for his fifth error of the season and Troy Glaus followed with a sacrifice fly. Anderson opened the scoring in the fourth with his ninth homer and 250th of his career, becoming the 17th player in history with at least 250 home runs, 2,000 hits, 1,000 RBIs and 450 doubles with one franchise. He doubled in the fourth and scored the Angels' second run on a single by Maicer Izturis. The Angels added a run in the seventh when Matthews singled, advanced on a wild pitch, stole third and continued home on catcher Gregg Zaun's throwing error. All six of Toronto's hits were singles, ending a franchise-record streak of 32 games with at least one double. The last time the Blue Jays came up empty in that department was July 21, when they beat Seattle 1-0 despite a complete-game four-hitter by the Mariners' Jeff Weaver. The Angels and Seattle begin the first of two critical series against each other Monday night at Seattle with first place at stake in the AL West. John Lackey will oppose Miguel Batista in Game 1, Ervin Santana squares off against Weaver on Tuesday night and Jered Weaver hooks up with Felix Hernandez on Wednesday afternoon. The Angels lead the Mariners 8-4 in the season series, including two wins each by Lackey -- who hasn't allowed a run in 15 innings against them this season. Los Angeles has been in sole possession of first place since May 9. Their 3-2 win over Cleveland that night ended a 1-5 skid and began a 32-11 stretch that put them a season-high eight games ahead of the pack. Notes:@ Escobar got some defensive help from RF Reggie Willits, who ended the third inning with a sliding catch against John McDonald and dug up a huge divot that required immediate attention from a member of the grounds crew. ... The Blue Jays won four of their seven meetings with the Angels, capturing the season series for the fifth consecutive year (25-13). ... Matthews is two games away from 1,000 in the major leagues. ... The Angels have hit 26 home runs in their last 27 games after getting just four in their precious 22 contests including a 14-game homerless drought. ... Matt Stairs pinch-hit for McDonald in the seventh and grounded out, making him 2-for-20 lifetime against Escobar.
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