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Indians close out set with hosting Angels

May 8, 2011 - 2:49 PM (Sports Network) - The top team in the American League is set to close out its six-game California swing today as the Cleveland Indians match up against the LA Angels of Anaheim at Angel Stadium.

Cleveland, which took two of three from the Oakland A's before moving south to face the Angels, are now 22-10 overall and a game over .500 on the road thanks to a 4-3 win versus LA on Saturday. The victory was the second in the last three outings and the ninth in 11 games for the Indians, who are now 4 1/2 games ahead of surprising Kansas City for first place in the AL Central.

Shin-Soo Choo hit a two-run double for the Indians, while Orlando Cabrera and Carlos Santana also knocked in a run during the victory. Starting pitcher Alex White allowed three runs on seven hits and a pair of walks, striking out six over the course of six innings in order to earn his first career win in the majors. Chris Perez pitched a scoreless ninth to grab his 10th save of the campaign.

"It's a great feeling. Something I've looked forward to for a long time ... It's one of those nights you'll remember forever," White said of his triumph.

After winning six games to open the 2011 campaign, LA hurler Jered Weaver was charged with his second straight loss. Weaver permitted all four runs on seven hits and two walks, failing to strike out a single batter in six innings of action.

"Sometimes you go out there without your best stuff and battle. In the fourth and fifth inning I got away from my game plan. You have days like that. Sometimes you have to tip your cap," noted Weaver.

Vernon Wells hit a two-run home run in the second inning to give the hosts an early lead, adding a sacrifice fly in the sixth to plate Torii Hunter, but that was the extent of the offense for the Angels as they finished the meeting 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Sporting one of the best earned run averages (1.76) of any starter in the American League at the moment, Dan Haren takes the ball for the Angels this afternoon. The right-hander is 4-2 on the season, with one of those victories stemming from an April 12 performance against these same Indians at home when he threw nine shutout innings, allowing just one hit and a pair of walks while striking out eight in the 2-0 triumph.

However, Haren and the Angels have now gone three starts without a tally in the win column. On Tuesday the California native was touched for a season-high nine hits and four earned runs over seven innings in a 7-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox. Haren did match his season-best with eight strikeouts and didn't issue a base-on-balls for the fifth time this year, but still that wasn't enough.

Now in his ninth season in the majors Haren, who needs just three more strikeouts for 1,300, has a career mark of 3-2 with a 4.06 ERA versus Cleveland.

Right-hander Fausto Carmona is slated to counter for the Indians today, shooting for his fourth win of the season. The 27-year old already has a loss to the Angels on his record in 2011, bowing to LA on the road back on April 12 as he permitted just two runs on four hits and three walks over 7 2/3 innings. In that same game Carmona tallied his season-high for strikeouts with six.

More recently Carmona stepped up against the Oakland A's on Tuesday and came away with his third win of the campaign, a 4-1 final after working eight innings and giving up just a single run on five hits.

The six-year veteran, who is gunning for the 50th win of his career today, has yet to defeat the Angels and is just 0-3 with a 2.11 ERA in five games.

Despite being the top team in the American League and tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for the best record in baseball heading into Mother's Day, the Indians have still had their issues on offense over the last week with a slugging percentage of just .277. Over the last week Cleveland is the lone AL club without a home run. Cabrera leads the group with four runs scored during the stretch, but even he batted only .250 over 20 at-bats.

Wells has knocked in seven runs and crossed the plate six times himself over the last seven games for the Angels, but his seven strikeouts have also contributed significantly to his mere .222 batting average over that span. Bobby Abreu has managed to transform eight singles and a pair of doubles into a team-best eight RBI in the last week. However, through a total of 33 games Abreu has just 16 RBI total and is still well below his career batting average of .296.

The Angels, who are still first in the AL West by a game over the Texas Rangers, are 3-2 in the season series thus far with Cleveland after the Indians posted a 5-4 advantage over LA in 2010.