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Angels-Indians Preview

Sep 15, 2010 - 4:17 AM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Los Angeles (70-73) at Cleveland (58-85), 7:05 p.m. EDT

Despite the longest losing streak of his career, Jered Weaver is throwing with great consistency.

The Los Angeles Angels ace will try for his first win in over a month when he faces the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night.

Weaver (11-11, 3.06 ERA) is 0-4 in his last six starts and has two victories in nine outings despite posting a 2.71 ERA. He allowed one run and five hits over eight innings in a 4-3, 14-inning win over Seattle on Friday.

"I've been saying for the last five weeks that I'm in a position where I can only do what I can do," Weaver said. "I go out there and pitch and try to keep us in the game."

Despite a career-high in losses and having not won since Aug. 6 at Detroit, Weaver has put together three consecutive quality starts. He has 211 strikeouts - three behind AL leader Felix Hernandez - and his ERA is among the top 10 in the league.

Weaver recorded a win against Cleveland (59-85) on April 26, giving up one run and striking out seven in six innings of a 5-2 victory. The Angels are 7-2 when he starts versus the Indians, with the right-hander going 3-1 with a 3.86 ERA.

He'll take the mound after the Angels (70-74) had their four-game winning streak snapped with a 4-3 loss Tuesday. Shelley Duncan hit two home runs and tied a career high with four RBIs for the Indians.

Duncan had five at-bats in his previous four games, but he made the most of the additional playing time and notched the second two-homer game of his career.

"It's tough when you are not getting at-bats because the game comes at you so fast," said Duncan, who made his 49th start of the year. "I tried to slow things down in my head, not think about the past."

Cleveland had dropped its previous two games and scored seven runs in losing three of its last four.

The Angels saw six of their nine hits go for extra bases, including five doubles. Bobby Wilson and Peter Bourjos drove in runs in the seventh, but it wasn't enough to complete the comeback.

They'll try to bounce back against Jeanmar Gomez (3-3, 3.07), who lost his third straight decision after giving up two runs in six innings of a 3-0 defeat to Seattle on Sept. 5. He was skipped in the rotation last week to limit his innings after throwing extensively in the minors.

The rookie right-hander is making his first start against the Angels.

Cleveland is 4-3 against Los Angeles and can win the season series for the first time since 2004.