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Santana, Angels aim to avoid rare series loss vs. Orioles

Aug 6, 2008 - 10:11 AM Baltimore (54-58) at La Angels (70-43) 3:35 pm. EDT

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- All-Star Ervin Santana has been terrific at home throughout his career. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim hope that will help them avoid losing a series for the first time in more than a month on Wednesday when they face the Baltimore Orioles.

The Angels, who have the best mark in baseball, were shut out for the first time at home on Tuesday as rookie Chris Waters and George Sherrill combined on a two-hitter in a 3-0 win. It was the fifth time the Angels had been shut out overall.

"He (Waters) just went right after us and kept us guessing all game," said Angels center fielder Torii Hunter, who saw his 15-game hitting streak snapped.

Now Santana (12-5, 3.38 ERA) will try and help Anaheim avoid losing a series for the first time since it dropped two of three to the Los Angeles Dodgers from June 27-29. And it would appear the Angels are in good hands, as the righthander is 28-12 with a 3.16 ERA in 51 career starts at Angel Stadium, with opponents hitting .232 against him.

Santana will shoot for his second straight win against an Orioles team that has won six of nine. Nick Markakis had an RBI double, and Luke Scott homered on Tuesday to pace Baltimore. Markakis has been the driving force behind the Orioles' success hitting .429 (12-for-28) with six RBI in his last seven games.

Garrett Olson (8-5, 5.67) takes the hill in search of a career-best third straight win. The lefthander allowed three runs and 11 hits in a career-high 8 1/3 innings of a 10-5 win over Seattle on Friday.