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Weaver follows brother Jeff's shutout as Angels sweep Twins

Aug 12, 2007 - 11:38 PM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Jered Weaver capped off a good day for the Weavers.

Weaver pitched into the eighth inning and the table-setters provided most of the offense as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim completed a three-game sweep with Sunday's 6-2 triumph over the Minnesota Twins.

Chone Figgins and Orlando Cabrera combined for five hits, two runs and three RBI out of the top two spots in the batting order and No. 9 hitter Reggie Willits walked, singled and scored two runs for the Angels, who remained 3 1/2 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners in the American League West.

"We did a lot of things well, the situational hitting has been huge and we need to carry it into Toronto," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

The Mariners blanked the Chicago White Sox earlier Sunday on a five-hit shutout by Jeff Weaver, Jered's older brother.

"I was peeking at the scoreboard to see how he was doing," Jered said. "It kept me focused to see he got the shutout. I matched him with a win.

"It was a good day for the Weavers."

After the Angels scored a run against struggling Minnesota righthander Boof Bonser (5-9) in the second inning, the table-setters took over. Willits delivered a one-out single to right-center in the fifth and Figgins followed with a base hit to center.

Cabrera then doubled inside the third base line, scoring Willits for a 2-0 lead. After an intentional walk to Vladimir Guerrero, Garret Anderson plated another run with a groundout.

"We have to be more than (Guerrero), today we got a lot of contributors from alot of different guys, (Figgins) had some big hits, its good to have a share of the lineup." Scioscia said.

Two frames later, Willits singled and stole second before Figgins lifted a two-run homer into the first row of seats down the right field line. That ended the day for Bonser, who yielded five runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings to drop to 0-7 in his last 11 starts.

"(Bonser) kept the ball out of the hitting zone, they have a great staff, to score runs like we did against them this series is great," Figgins said.

After yielding six runs in each of his previous two starts, Weaver (8-5) righted the ship last Monday, yielding two runs and six hits in six frames in a no-decision against the Boston Red Sox.

Weaver built on that performance against the Twins, yielding just two runs and five hits in 7 1/3 innings. He struck out five and did not walk a batter during his 93-pitch outing.

"I was able to keep them off-balance and stay ahead, the defense was great behind me," Weaver said. "I got guys out early in the count, which was something I wanted to do, I'm not going to be able to strikeout guys like I did in college."

Minnesota scored on a sacrifice fly by Jason Bartlett in the sixth. That scored rookie Alexi Casilla, who singled and stole second and third base.

Weaver's day ended after a one-out single by Casilla in the eighth and the Twins cut their deficit to 5-2 with a run-scoring triple by Bartlett off Justin Speier.

"I wanted to stretch it out, but we dont want my pitch count to high on a hot day like this. I just want to put zeros on the board and leave the game to Speier, Shields, and (Rodriguez)," Weaver said.

Los Angeles added insurance in the bottom half on Jeff Mathis' first homer of the season against Ramon Ortiz before Speier closed out the victory.