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Angels' Weaver toes rubber vs. Yankees

May 28, 2012 - 2:57 PM (Sports Network) - Jered Weaver eyes his seventh win of the season this evening when the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim try to extend their season-best winning streak to seven games in the opener of a three-game set with the New York Yankees at Angel Stadium.

While the Angels may have stumbled out of the gates, the one consistent piece for them has been Weaver, who is 6-1 with a 2.61 earned run average and, of course, tossed a no-hitter back on May 2.

Weaver, though, failed to get win No. 7 on Wednesday, but through no fault of his own, as the right-hander allowed just one run in eight innings, but did not factor in the decision of his team's 3-1 win.

He has faced the Yankees nine times and is 5-2 with a 4.79 ERA against them.

The Angels continued to put their early season struggles behind them on Sunday with a 4-2 win over Seattle, as Kendrys Morales collected three hits, including a home run, and drove in two, while C.J. Wilson pitched six solid innings to help Los Angeles complete a four-game sweep of the Mariners.

Mark Trumbo also hit a solo homer and Howie Kendrick added another RBI for the Angels, winners in seven of their last 10 to get within two games of .500 (23-25).

Wilson (6-4) allowed just two hits and a run with two walks, fanning five before leaving with a blister on his left hand. Scott Downs turned in a scoreless ninth for his fifth save.

"The rotation sets the tone. If we go out there and prevent scoring right out of the gate then it gives the offense a lot of confidence," Wilson said of the rotation's role in his team's success. "As you see, we don't need to score five runs in an inning, we score one run, [then] one run, [then] one run, and that's what we all envisioned during spring training."

New York, meanwhile, also enters this series playing its best baseball of the season after a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics that pushed their winning streak to five games. On Sunday, Hiroki Kuroda gave up just four hits in eight innings and the Yankees rolled to a 2-0 win.

Kuroda (4-6) snapped a two-start losing streak, striking out three and walking one while throwing 67 of his 104 pitches for strikes.

The 37-year-old righty wasn't given the chance to pick up his first shutout in almost four years. Rafael Soriano worked around a Josh Reddick single for his fifth save of the season.

Hoping for the same type of effort tonight, the Yanks turn to righty Phil Hughes, who has won three of his last four starts. Hughes beat the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, holding them to a pair of runs in six innings to run his record to 4-5, while lowering his ERA to 4.94.

Hughes, though, was roughed up by the Angels back on April 14 to the tune of six runs in just 3 1/3 frames. He is 3-2 lifetime against them with a 7.61 ERA in seven games (four starts).

The Yankees took two of three from the Halos earlier in the season.