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Santana pitches, hits his way to first road win of season

Jun 10, 2007 - 6:12 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Ervin Santana felt like he was right at home, but he was at Busch Stadium.

Santana retired the first 11 batters en route to his first road win of the season as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim posted a 9-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.

The 25-year-old Dominican is 4-1 with a 2.41 ERA at Angel Stadium, but had been 0-5 with a 9.30 on the road this season. He has struggled on the road in his three seasons, going 10-16 as opposed to 23-6 at home.

"(The road record) is not bothering me," Santana said. "The same things that I do at home I do it here too. Nothing has changed."

That is not what the stat sheet says however. In his last road start, the righthander was pounded for eight runs and seven hits in just 3 2/3 innings at Detroit on May 24.

"I still feel it's to small of a sample size," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "I have seen him throw some terrific games on the road. It comes down to how he's throwing the ball. He's got a terrific arm that plays in any ballpark."

This one was much better than his previous road starts. The righthander allowed three runs and six hits in six innings to earn his first road win since September 24 of last season against Oakland.

Santana (5-6) also did damage with his bat, hitting a two-run double - the first RBI of his career - in a four-run fourth inning for the Angels, who scored six runs in the seventh in last night's 10-6 win in the opener, and are averaging over eight runs in their last seven contests.

"It takes one through nine to swing that bats well," Scioscia said. "Right now we're doing a good job on the offensive side."

However, Santana's win did not come without a few hiccups. He allowed a solo homer to Juan Encarnacion in the fifth and a two-out two-run homer to Jim Edmonds in the sixth. After Edmonds' blast, Santana yielded consecutive singles before escaping the jam by getting Adam Kennedy to fly out to left.

"I didn't want to walk (Edmonds)," Santana said. "I just tried to get a strike and I threw a fastball in the middle. After that I just took a deep breath and got back to the game."

Dustin Moseley pitched a scoreless seventh and Scot Shields worked the eighth and Hector Carrasco worked the ninth as the Angels became the first team to 40 wins.

One night after collecting 17 hits, the Angels pounded out 18 more. Chone Figgins had three hits while Garret Anderson, Orlando Cabrera and Howie Kendrick each added two.

The Angels got on the board in the second inning. After Casey Kotchman singled to lead off the inning, Anderson hit a 2-0 pitch from Cardinals starter Braden Looper (6-5) into the right field stands for his third home run of the season.

The Cardinals mounted a threat in the sixth inning as Edmonds hit a two-run homer, his seventh of the season, cutting the lead to 6-3. Scott Rolen and Juan Encarnacion followed with singles, but Santana was able to avoid further damage as former Angel Adam Kennedy flied out to end the inning.

Meanwhile, Looper pitched six innings, allowing six runs and season-high tying 11 hits as he lost for the third time in his last four decisions.

"I didn't give the guys a chance," Looper said. "When you go out there as a starter, your job is to give the team a chance to win. To pitch six innings and give up six runs is not good. I made a few mistakes and they made me pay."

Encarnacion had two hits, including a solo home run, to extend his hitting streak to 10 games as the Cardinals dropped to 2-3 on their current six-game homestand.

Anderson and Kotchman both left the game with injuries. Anderson left in the fifth with stiffness in his right leg, and was replaced by rookie Reggie Willits. Kotchman was hit by a pitch on the right elbow in the sixth and was replaced by Robb Quinlan.

"Garret felt a little stretch in his hip flexor, the same area that had been bothering him before," Scioscia said. "They just think it's a little scar tissue right now. He'll be evaluated tomorrow.

"(Kotchman's) elbow is a little swollen. We'll see how he is tomorrow."