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Garland, Guerrero lead Angels over Twins

Apr 2, 2008 - 4:35 AM By Anthony Maggio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Jon Garland made a strong first impression on his new teammates - whether he was trying to or not.

The righthander, who came over from the Chicago White Sox in the offseason in exchange for shortstop Orlando Cabrera, induced 17 ground-ball outs and threw 64 of 96 pitches for strikes as the Los Angeles Angels best the Minnesota Twins, 9-1, on Tuesday.

Vladimir Guerrero drove in three runs while Mike Napoli and Casey Kotchman both homered to help Garland's cause and help the Angels even the four-game series at a game apiece.

"I don't feel like I needed to go out and make an impression on these guys," Garland said. "They've seen me and what I'm capable of doing on any given night. They won't all be good, they won't all be great, but like I said before - that defense is behind me and I'm going to make them put the ball in play."

Garland admitted the familiarity of facing the Twins in the Metrodome - where he had thrown 109 innings in his eight years with American League Central Division Chicago - helped in his debut with the Angels. A two-run lead before he took the mound didn't hurt, either.

After Gary Matthews Jr. singled and Guerrero brought him home with a one-out double, Garret Anderson followed by doubling home Guerrero in the top of the first.

Anaheim put up two more runs on Twins starter Boof Bonser (0-1) in the fifth inning on Napoli's leadoff home run and Guerrero's two-out RBI single to bring in Chone Figgins - who reached on an error by Twins shortstop Adam Everett, stole second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Bonser allowed four runs - three earned - and eight hits with four strikeouts in six innings.

"His first inning he didn't really get into it and the ball was up," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said of Bonser. "But after the first inning when he started locating the ball and making pitches, he did pretty doggone good after that. He gave us a chance."

Meanwhile, Garland was cruising.

After stumbling to an 0-2 record with a 9.35 ERA in three starts against the Twins with the White Sox a year ago, Garland allowed only Jason Kubel's two-out single in the second inning through four.

"I think we saw a lot of the same stuff we saw in spring training from Jon," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "In the zone early and often, he expanded the zone when he had an opportunity to and relied on his defense."

Garland got a pair of flyouts after Delmon Young's leadoff single in the fifth inning, but he walked Brendan Harris and Everett followed with his first hit in a Minnesota uniform - an RBI single up the middle - to get the Twins on the board.

Figgins got the run back in the seventh inning, scoring on Anderson's single off reliever Dennys Reyes following his one-out double over Young's head. Kotchman led off the eighth with a solo home run off Brian Bass, and Guerrero brought in Maicer Izturis with a two-out infield single later in the inning.

Garland did the rest, erasing two of the three baserunners he allowed after the fifth inning with double plays - including a tough turn on Michael Cuddyer's chopper by Figgins with no outs in the sixth - and stranding Young at third base following his leadoff double in the seventh.

"When that ball was hit (by Cuddyer) I was honestly hoping for (a double play)," Garland said. "To get rid of it as quick as he did, off-balance the way he did, I told him he needs to go home and look for 'SportsCenter,' because if that's not on there somebody made a mistake."

Torii Hunter, who spent the 11 seasons with Minnesota and was the starter in center fielder for the last nine, was presented with his seventh Gold Glove award prior to the game. He finished 0-for-4 and was hit by a pitch, making him 0-for-8 in his first two games with Los Angeles, after signing a five-year, $90 million deal this offseason.