Final
Marcum continues to impress as Blue Jays edge Angels
Aug 16, 2007 - 4:06 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Shaun Marcum continued to perform like one of the best pitchers in the American League.Marcum pitched effectively into the eighth inning and Vernon Wells knocked home an important insurance run as the Toronto Blue Jays held on for a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Wednesday night.
Alex Rios had three hits for the Blue Jays, who have won the first two contests of the three-game set behind stellar pitching. Ace Roy Halladay threw an impressive four-hitter in the series opener on Tuesday night.
The 25-year-old Marcum (10-4) has won five starts in a row and has allowed three runs or less in 15 of 18 starts this season. The righthander took a no-hitter into the seventh inning Friday, allowing a single at Kansas City before leaving with a leg cramp after 6 2/3 frames.
On Wednesday night, Marcum yielded one run and four hits while striking out six and walking one in seven frames. He was pulled after issuing a leadoff walk to Erick Aybar in the eighth.
"I'm very satisfied," Marcum said. "That's one of the things as a starter you want to do, be consistent. The key to pitching is trying to get ahead and Doc (Halladay) did a great job last night of keeping the ball down. I think watching him, I took some of that into my game plan tonight."
Toronto's bullpen made the lead stand up - barely.
Casey Janssen came on and promptly picked off Aybar at first and struck out Reggie Willits before walking Chone Figgins and Orlando Cabrera with two outs, bringing up dangerous slugger Vladimir Guerrero.
The hard-throwing righthander then overpowered Guerrero, blowing a 1-2 fastball past him to end the threat.
"Yeah, it was big situation," Janssen said. "I was a little frustrated with the walks, but to be able to hold the lead and hand it over to (Jeremy) Accardo is huge."
Accardo notched his 23rd save in the ninth thanks to some good fortune. Garret Anderson ripped a leadoff base hit, but Gary Matthews Jr. followed by drilling a line drive right at first baseman Lyle Overbay, who doubled off Anderson. Casey Kotchman grounded out weakly to end the game.
Dustin Moseley (4-2) surrendered two runs and nine hits in five innings while striking out two and walking one for Anaheim (69-49), which remained three games ahead of the Seattle Mariners (66-52) in the American League West.
"It was good to get through five," Mosely said. "The one thing I was pleased with is that I kept that one big inning to just one run tonight, where before I was giving up three or four and that took us out of the ballgame."
The Blue Jays got on the board in the second. Frank Thomas and Troy Glaus started the frame with back-to-back singles, and Aaron Hill reached on an infield hit to load the bases.
Gregg Zaun then grounded into a double play to make it 1-0.
Toronto added a run in the fifth on Wells' RBI single. Matt Stairs started the inning with a booming double and Rios and Wells put together back-to-back one-out hits.
Wells said it all starts with the pitching.
"Shaun did a great job, and has pretty much done that every time he steps on the mound," Wells said. "He's fun to play behind and it's been a pleasure to watch. Tonight we only scored two runs, but that's all we needed because of Shaun."
The Angels cut the lead in half in the sixth thanks to Cabrera, who fisted a two-out single to left and stole second. It was a gutsy move by the shortstop, who risked ending the frame just moments after Figgins was thrown out trying to swipe the same bag.
Guerrero then knocked him in with a sharp single to center to make it 2-1.
Cabrera's three stolen bases tied a career high.
Figgins, who finished the game 1-for-3, and who has now hit safely in 26 of his past 29 games, was quick to praise Marcum.
"He (Marcum) kept the ball out of the hitting zone," Figgins said. "You do that and gets guys swinging through them, he's tough to hit."
Toronto moved to a season-best three games above .500 for the first time since April 17 (8-5) with the victory.
- AL
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
LA ANGELS 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 0
TORONTO 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 x 2 11 1 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: LAA - DUSTIN MOSELEY, CHRIS BOOTCHECK (6TH), DARREN OLIVER (8TH) AND
JEFF MATHIS, RYAN BUDDE (8TH)
TOR - SHAUN MARCUM, CASEY JANSSEN (8TH), JEREMY ACCARDO
(9TH) AN
Aug 15 9:41 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY VLADIMIR GUERRERO SCORED ORLANDO CABRERA.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, V GUERRERO ON FIRST, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: LA ANGELS 1
TORONTO 2 TOP, 6TH
DUE UP FOR LA ANGELS: G ANDERSON (.274, 0-FOR-2)
Angels vs. Blue JaysAug 15 8:45 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY VERNON WELLS SCORED MATT STAIRS.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, V WELLS ON FIRST, A RIOS ON THIRD, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: LA ANGELS 0
TORONTO 2 BOTTOM, 5TH
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: F THOMAS (.260, 1-FOR-2)
Angels vs. Blue JaysAug 15 8:31 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
GREGG ZAUN HIT INTO DOUBLE PLAY SCORING FRANK THOMAS.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, T GLAUS ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: LA ANGELS 0
TORONTO 1 BOTTOM, 2ND
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: J MCDONALD (.262, 1 HR, 22 RBI)
Angels vs. Blue JaysAug 15 7:38 PM
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