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Weaver leads Angels past Rays

Jun 11, 2008 - 5:07 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Jered Weaver is finding his rhythm following a sluggish start to the season.

Weaver pitched eight strong innings to lead the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to a 6-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.

After losing three of his first four starts of the campaign, Weaver (6-6) allowed just one run and four hits while walking two and striking out five to earn his fourth win in his last five outings.

"Jered is a guy who can pitch without his best stuff and win games," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He set the tone tonight and pitched a good game."

Just one game after the Rays pounded out a season-high 13 runs and 18 hits in a nine-run victory during the series opener, Weaver silenced the opposition, getting 14 ground-ball outs while throwing 110 pitches - 70 for strikes.

"I wanted to get ahead with a first-pitch strike and then just go after them by mixing up my other pitches," Weaver said. "A couple things went my way and we got a good win."

The 24-year-old righthander surrendered his only run in the eighth inning on Gabe Gross' homer to center field with two outs.

"Weaver definitely had some of his good stuff working tonight," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "He left a pitch out over the plate and Gabe made solid contact."

Weaver was the beneficiary of some early run support as the Angels jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

"It took a lot of pressure off my shoulders with the early run support," Weaver said. "I thought it was going to be a pitchers' duel but the boys came out swinging."

After Maicer Izturis extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a one-out single to right-center field, Garret Anderson opened the scoring with his his sixth home run of the season off Tampa Bay starter James Shields (4-5).

Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter followed Anderson's blast with a pair of singles, advancing to second and third on a fielder's choice by Casey Kotchman.

Howie Kendrick plated Guerrero with a double to left before Jeff Mathis capped the inning with an RBI single.

Anaheim extended its advantage to 6-0 in the fifth when Guerrero stroked a two-run blast - his ninth home run of the season.

"Vlad is a type of guy that can carry an offense for a while," Scioscia said. "He's starting to look more comfortable at the plate and put good swings on balls."

"I hung a pitch and when you do that to a good hitter, they are going to make you pay," Shields said.

Shields, who was likely making his final start before serving a six-game suspension for his role in Thursday's bench-clearing brawl with the Boston Red Sox, surrendered six runs and 10 hits in eight innings, striking out 10 en route to his second straight loss.

"Sometimes baseball is a funny game," Shields said. "I felt like I had some good stuff but they hit me pretty hard tonight."