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Lackey's arm, Devil Rays' gloves lead Angels

Apr 26, 2007 - 6:01 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- John Lackey continued his home dominance as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' fielders failed to show Edwin Jackson any support.

Lackey pitched six strong innings and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim took advantage of six unearned runs to defeat the Devil Rays, 9-1.

Lackey, who has won all three of his starts here, surrendered one run and seven hits in six frames. The Angels' ace struck out seven and has now allowed just two earned runs in 18 innings at Angel stadium.

"I felt like I pitched a good game, but I just didn't get as deep as I wanted too," Lackey said. "I just tried to hold their offense down for as long as I could because they have some big bats."

Tampa Bay starter Edwin Jackson did his best to match Lackey but was let down by his defense. Casey Kotchman opened the fifth inning with a shot that Devil Rays first baseman Carlos Pena failed to handle cleanly.

"It was my best outing of the year so far," Jackson said. "I had good command and had my pitches working for me."

Anaheim loaded the bases on back-to-back singles by Shea Hillenbrand and Erick Aybar. Tampa Bay second baseman B.J. Upton then committed a throwing error which allowed Kotchman to score and Hillenbrand and Aybar to advance. Gary Matthews Jr. followed with a double to center field, plating two runs.

"This was the second game like this of the year where we just played bad defense," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "We just can't play like that because it gave them a lot of opportunities to score."

Lackey ended his night by working out of a jam in the sixth inning. All-Star Carl Crawford led off with a single and stole second base before scoring on Delmon Young's single. Pena followed with a single and Elijah Duke walked to load the bases.

"That was the big moment in the game at the time and I knew I had to settle down to get out of the inning," Lackey said.

The 28-year-old righthander got Dioner Navarro to pop up before striking out Upton with a fastball on a full count to end the frame.

"I had to make a big pitch because there was no place to put him and I made the big pitch I wanted to make with two strikes," Lackey said.

Jackson pitched six-plus innings. The 23-year-old righthander yielded six runs - three earned - and eight hits.

"I hope he (Jackson) can build from this start and make more starts like this for our team, because he kept us in the game," Maddon said.

Garret Anderson doubled in a pair of runs in the seventh inning and Hillenbrand drove in two runs with a pair of hits for Anaheim, which finishes up its seven-game homestand Thursday.

The Angels added three more unearned runs off reliever Juan Salas, capitalizing on shortstop Brendan Harris' failure to catch a routine pop-up.

Anaheim has now won 10-of-13 games here, while winning just one of their first eight road contests.

"It was our first road trip of the year and we aren't worried about how we played on the road trip," Matthews said. "We just have to go out and try to play good baseball no matter where we are playing."

It was the second game in a row that the Angels have managed nine runs, after a 9-8 win over Detroit here Tuesday. Anaheim scored just six runs over six straight road losses, but has clubbed 44 while going 5-1 on it current homestand.

"We just have to keep putting runs on the board as long as our bats stay hot," Scioscia said. "We have been doing a good job taking advantage with runners in scoring position and getting some big two out hits."

Jorge Cantu, who was recalled from the minors when third baseman Akinori Iwamura was placed on the disabled list Tuesday, earned an at-bat as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning. The one-time Devil Rays' starting second baseman, Cantu requested a trade when he was sent to the minors prior to the beginning of the season.