CLUTCH DRIVING KEY TWO-OUT HITS HELP ANGELS WIN, RAISE AL WEST LEAD ANGELS 7, TEXAS 4.Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer ANAHEIM - The Angels have described their offense as one that needs to ``scratch and claw'' for every run they get. Now 152 games into the season, the Angels finally are drawing blood. For the second night in a row, the Angels got key two-out hits late in the game and beat the Texas Rangers Texas Rangers, mounted fighting force organized (1835) during the Texas Revolution. During the republic they became established as the guardians of the Texas frontier, particularly against Native Americans. 7-4 in front of 36,588 at Angel Stadium. With Oakland idle Thursday, the Angels increased their lead in the American League West The American League West is one of three divisions in Major League Baseball's American League. The division currently has four teams, but it has had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. to three games with 10 to play. The victory was the Angels' sixth in a rwo and reduced their magic number to clinch the division (any combination of Angels wins and A's losses) to eight. The Angels got a steady - if not spectacular - performance from starting pitcher Noun 1. starting pitcher - (baseball) a pitcher who starts in a baseball game baseball, baseball game - a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs; "he played baseball in high school"; Ervin Santana Ervin Ramon Santana (born December 12, 1982 in La Romana, Dominican Republic) is a right-handed starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Career Santana was a starting pitcher for the Angels' double-A affiliate, the Arkansas Travelers early in 2005, where he , who gave up three runs and six hits in six innings to improve to 10-8. He's the first Angels rookie to win 10 games in a season since Jason Dickson Dickson is a graduate of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M University. He plays for the Somerset Patriots and was drafted by the California Angels in the 6th round of the 1994 MLB Amateur won 13 in 1997. The Angels had only nine hits, but four of them came with runners in scoring position In the sport of baseball, a baserunner is said to be in scoring position when he is on second or third base. The distinction between being on first base and second or third base is that a runner on first can usually only score if the batter hits an extra base hit, while a runner on and two out. Casey Kotchman Casey John Kotchman (born February 22, 1983 in St. Petersburg, Florida) is a Major League Baseball first baseman for Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He hit his first Major League home run on August 5 2005. In 47 games in 2005, Kotchman had 7 home runs and 22 runs batted in. , batting in the cleanup spot Noun 1. cleanup spot - (baseball) the fourth position in the batting order (usually filled by the best batter on the team) cleanup position, cleanup in the absence of Garret Anderson Garret Joseph Anderson (born June 30, 1972 in Los Angeles, California) is a Major League Baseball left fielder who has played his entire career for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. , had a two-out, two-run double in the third inning. With the game tied at 3 in the sixth inning, Adam Kennedy For other people with the same name, see Adam Kennedy (disambiguation). Adam Thomas Kennedy (born January 10, 1976 in Riverside, California) is a Major League Baseball player. He currently plays second base for the St. Louis Cardinals. Kennedy attended J.W. came up with the bases loaded and two outs, and singled home the go-ahead run. Chone Figgins followed with a two-run single. The Angels added an insurance run on Molina's solo homer in the eighth. After Santana was finished with his six innings, Angels manager Mike Scioscia handed the ball to Kelvim Escobar, who gave up one run while pitching the final three innings, giving the others in the bullpen a welcomed rest. Escobar got his first save of the season, and first since May 4, 2003, against the Angels when he pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays "Blue Jays" redirects here. For other uses, see Blue Jay (disambiguation).. The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. . The Rangers jumped on Santana for two early runs, getting a sacrifice fly from Mark Teixeira in the first inning and an RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in single by Hank Blalock in the third inning for a 2-0 lead. But the Angels rallied to take the lead with three runs in the bottom of the third, all three coming with two out. Vladimir Guerrero drove in the first run with a broken-bat single to right field, and Kotchman followed with the big hit of the inning, a two-run double to right center. The Rangers tied the game with a run in the fifth after Rod Barajas doubled and later scored on Michael Young's sacrifice fly. The Angels took the lead for good with a three-run sixth, getting the rally started with two out and nobody on base. Juan Rivera and Molina each singled, and Steve Finley walked to load the bases for Kennedy. Kennedy moved the runners up one base with an RBI single to right field, and Figgins gave the Angels a cushion with his two-run single to right-center. The Angels made it 7-3 in the eighth on Molina's home run, his 14th of the season, tying a career high. Escobar retired the first seven batters he faced before Adrian Gonzalez tripled off the wall in left-center with one out in the ninth. Gonzalez scored on Jason Botts' groundout. --Notes: Garret Anderson was out of the lineup for the second night in a row because of back and knee problems. ``You could see (Anderson's injuries) were affecting everything he needed to do,'' manager Mike Scioscia said. ``To get him healthy is important.'' Juan Rivera, who has hit .316 with five homers and 20 RBI since Aug. 1, has been playing left field while Anderson has hit .280 with three homers and 20 RBI over the same period. Without Anderson in the lineup the past two nights, Scioscia had Casey Kotchman hitting cleanup. ... With his appearance Wednesday night, reliever Scot Shields set an Angels record for appearances in a season by a pitcher with 73. Though Shields has struggled in the second half of the season, he said fatigue is not a factor. ``It doesn't feel like I've thrown 73 games, so I guess that's a good sign,'' Shields said. ``I feel fresh.'' ... Rangers pitcher Kameron Loe (Granada Hills High, Cal State Northridge) had only a small abrasion on his head to show for being hit by a Vladimir Guerrero line drive on Wednesday. The ball ricocheted off his head and was caught by shortstop Michael Young. ``He's so fortunate it was just a little abrasion,'' Scioscia said. ``When it happened I thought it hit off his glove. It was scary when I finally saw a replay.'' Joe Haakenson, (626) 962-8811 joe.haakenson(at)sgvn.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos, 5 boxes Photo: (1 -- color) The Angels' Adam Kennedy scores on a single by Vladimir Guerrero as Rangers catcher Rod Barajas looks on. (2) Ervin Santana became the first Angels rookie since 1997 to win 10 games in a season after beating the Rangers on Thursday night. Jeff Lewis/Associated Press Box: (1) TAMPA BAY at ANGELS - Joe Haakenson (2) PLAYOFF CHASE (3) GAME RECAP (4) HOW THE RUNS SCORED (5) ALMANAC almanac, originally, a calendar with notations of astronomical and other data. Almanacs have been known in simple form almost since the invention of writing, for they served to record religious feasts, seasonal changes, and the like. |
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