Yard Sail! Angels Hit 5 Homers To Beat Tigers, 8-6
ANAHEIM (AP) — Mike Trout and Albert Pujols were among five Los Angeles Angels to homer in the first two innings, allowing Jered Weaver to breeze to an 8-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night.
Weaver (4-4) won his fourth straight decision over five starts, allowing three runs and nine hits in 6 1-3 innings with three strikeouts and no walks.
Kole Calhoun, Matt Joyce and rookie Carlos Perez also went deep for the Angels, who had totaled just six home runs in Weaver's 10 previous starts this season. For Joyce, it was his third in four games after hitting just one in his first 40 games.
All of the homers came off Shane Greene (4-4), who had given up only three in his first 59 innings this season combined. He was charged with seven runs and six hits in just 1 2-3 innings.
It was the first time a Tigers opponent hit five homers in a game since May 26, 2014, when the Athletics won 10-0 at Oakland. The last time the Detroit staff surrendered more than five was Sept. 4 at Boston, when the Red Sox tied a franchise record with eight in a 20-4 rout.
The Tigers closed to 7-5 in the eighth against Fernando Salas with a run-scoring groundout by Tyler Collins and an RBI double by James McCann. But Perez got one of the runs back in the eighth with an RBI double and Huston Street got his 16th save in 18 attempts despite giving up a two-out homer to Ian Kinzler in the ninth.
Trout ignited the Angels' long-ball barrage with his 12th homer and Calhoun added his fifth two batters later. Joyce and Perez opened the second inning with homers to left-center, the first time the Angels have gone back-to-back in their first 50 games.
Efren Navarro followed with a single off Greene's glove, and Trout drew a two-out walk before Pujols drove the next pitch deep into the seats in left field for his 531st career homer and 11th this season. At that point, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus mercifully removed the 26-year-old right-hander after 46 pitches with a 7-1 deficit.
Alex Wilson relieved Greene and retired all 11 batters he faced, while the Tigers cut the margin to 7-3 with Miguel Cabrera's RBI double in the third and Nick Castellanos' sacrifice fly in the fourth. The Angels didn't get another baserunner until Johnny Giavotella singled with two outs in the seventh against Blaine Hardy.
A victory in Sunday night's series finale would give the Angels their first four-game series sweep of the Tigers since April 1996 at the "Big A."
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