• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

De La Rosa lifts Royals to sweep of Angels

Jun 27, 2007 - 11:11 PM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Jorge De La Rosa helped the Kansas City Royals record their first sweep of the season.

De La Rosa and three relievers combined to pitch a shutout as the Royals picked up a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Wednesday in the finale of a three-game series.

The 26-year-old De La Rosa (5-9), who was winless in his previous eight outings, pitched six innings, surrendering 10 hits with a walk and a strikeout.

"My control was a lot better and I kept the ball down and got a lot of ground ball outs," De La Rosa said. "Command of my pitches were better and the defense played great behind me."

De La Rosa was helped by catcher Jason LaRue, who threw out three Angels base runners. Reggie Willits, Robb Quinlan and Chone Figgins were all caught stealing by LaRue.

"I told him (De La Rosa) to keep his tempo up and to work ahead of them," LaRue said. "They put a lot of pressure on our whole defense with the speed they have, and we knew if we could contain their running game we would have a shot."

Before Wednesday's heroics, De La Rosa posted an 0-6 record with an 8.67 ERA in his last eight appearances.

"De La Rosa scattered his hits around today, but made a lot of big pitches to help him out," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "He had more control and better stuff today than past outings."

David Riske entered in the seventh with no outs and two runners on base and recorded three consecutive outs. Joakim Soria pitched a perfect eighth and Octavio Dotel slammed the door in the ninth for his eighth save of the season.

"Our pen did their typical job shutting down the other team," Bell said. "The guys out in the bullpen aren't afraid to take the ball in any situation."

Kansas City, which recorded its first shutout of the season, scored its only run on a bloop single by Mark Teahen off Angels starter Jered Weaver (6-4). Teahen is batting .390 with runners in scoring position this season.

"I didn't think that run would hold up, especially with their offense," Teahen said. "It was good to scratch up a run against Weaver, and nice to get the winning hit even if it was in the third inning."

Weaver was saddled with the loss despite a solid outing. The 24-year-old righthander yielded just one run and four hits with a walk and six strikeouts over seven innings.

"I pitched a good game, but it wasn't enough for our team to pull out a win," Weaver said. "I threw a good pitch to Teahen but he got enough bat on the ball and got it drop for a big hit in the game."

It is Weaver's first loss since his last start against the Royals on May 3.