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Saunders dominant as Angels down Dodgers

May 17, 2008 - 6:15 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Joe Saunders dominated for 7 1/3 innings and Vladimir Guerrero drove in a pair of runs as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-2, in the opener of the "Freeway Series" on Friday.

Saunders (7-1) limited the Dodgers to just two runs and five hits. The lefthander struck out one and walked two.

Saunders was given a 3-0 lead thanks to an unearned run in the fourth and two in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Guerrero and an RBI single from Garret Anderson in the fifth.

"This was our style of game tonight," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We play aggressive baseball and try to take advantage of other teams' mistakes."

Saunders stymied the Dodgers until he made a rare mistake in the seventh inning.

Andre Ethier sliced the lead to 3-2 with a two-out, two-run homer to right. James Loney had kept the frame alive with a single before Either blasted a fastball to right-center field for his fourth home run of the season.

"It was just a pitch that I knew was going to be hit hard once it left my hand," Saunders said. "Other than that mistake, I felt like I pitched a good game."

"It was a big hit for us at the time, since it got us within one run," Ethier said. "He (Saunders) didn't make a lot of mistakes tonight and kept us off balance."

The Angels took advantage of some shoddy defense to add to the lead in the following inning. Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda (1-3) issued a leadoff walk to Maicer Izturis before throwing consecutive wild pitches.

After Gary Matthews Jr. grounded out, Guerrero hit a chopper to third baseman Russell Martin, who could not get Izturis at the plate, allowing the Angels to take a 4-2 lead.

Scot Shields got the final two outs of the eighth and Francisco Rodriguez worked a perfect ninth for his 17th save in 18 chances.

"Our bullpen once again came in and did a great job closing out the game and getting us a big win," Saunders said.

A pitchers' duel was broken up in a most unusual way in the fourth. Kuroda retired the first two hitters of the frame before Casey Kotchman hit a ground-rule double to left field.

Kuroda struck out Erik Aybar, but Gary Bennett dropped the third strike and then threw the ball over the head of Loney at first base. The ball caromed off the wall in shallow right field as Kotchman raced around for the game's first run.

"It was just a bad throw," Bennett said. "It gave them a big run right from the start."

Kuroda, who carried a no-hitter into the seventh in his last start, allowed four runs - three earned - and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.

"Kuroda pitched a solid game for us tonight," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "We just didn't play good defense and you can't give a team like the Angels extra outs to work with."