Santana, Wells Led Angels Over Orioles 6-1
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Ervin Santana took a one-hitter into the eighth inning, Vernon Wells hit a grand slam in the ninth, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-1 on Friday night.
It was the Angels' first win against Baltimore since Aug. 17, 2009, when Santana threw six innings in an 8-5 victory. Los Angeles went 0-6 against the Orioles last year.
Santana (5-8) allowed three hits and a walk in 7 1-3 innings to earn his first road win in seven starts since April 29. It was the seventh straight start overall in which he allowed three earned runs or fewer.
The only hit against Santana over the first seven innings was an opposite-field double by No. 9 hitter Blake Davis with one out in the sixth. Undaunted, Santana retired J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis to keep the game scoreless.
Los Angeles promptly took the lead in the seventh against Alfredo Simon (2-3). Mike Trout hit a one-out double and scored on a two-out liner to right-center by Maicer Izturis, who came to the plate mired in a 7-for-53 skid. Torii Hunter, 1 for 26 since the All-Star break, followed with a double off Jason Berken.
Baltimore closed to 2-1 in the eighth. Mark Reynolds walked, Felix Pie got an infield hit and Hardy singled in a run before
Hisanori Takahashi retired Markakis on a grounder.
Wells sealed the win with his third hit of the game, a two-out grand slam off Kevin Gregg. All the runs were unearned, thanks to an error by first baseman Derrek Lee at the outset of the inning.
It was Wells' sixth career slam.
Takahashi stayed on for the ninth and registered his first save.
Simon gave up two runs and six hits in six innings but was outdone by Santana, now 4-4 lifetime against Baltimore.
The temperature at game time was announced at 104 degrees, the second-highest reading at Camden Yards over the past 15 years behind the 105 degrees on July 6, 1999, against Toronto. The Orioles usually wear black jerseys on Fridays, but on this night they wore their traditional home white uniforms as a concession to the heat.
After Angels DH Bobby Abreu struck out with two on and two outs in the third, Los Angeles used two singles and an error to load the bases with one out in the fourth. But Trout hit a popup and Jeff Mathis grounded out to first.
The Orioles, on the other hand, had trouble getting someone as far as first base. Their lone runner over the first five innings was Luke Scott, who reached when Izturis flubbed an attempted backhand pickup of a grounder to second base in the second.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
