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Teixeira provides late offense as Angels down Twins

Aug 24, 2008 - 5:38 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- A struggling offense has been the root of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim's recent problems. On Saturday, the Minnesota Twins bore the consequences of their pent-up frustration.

Mark Teixeira went 3-for-3 and homered, propelling the Angels to a 7-5 victory over the Twins.

Anaheim had been limited to a total of 28 runs over its previous nine games, including being shut out on Friday. That stretch not only cost the Angels (78-50) the best record in baseball, but also dropped them behind the Tampa Bay Rays (79-49) for the best mark in the American League.

"We just haven't been looking comfortable at the plate the past week and (couldn't) get anything going," Angels third baseman Chone Figgins said. "We tried being more patient tonight and it seemed to work out."

"We have been struggling pretty bad lately and just needed a game like this to hopefully get us back on track," Teixeira said.

Anaheim jumped to a 6-1 advantage after four frames, following a four-run third inning against Nick Blackburn (9-8) with a two-run fourth, thanks to RBI singles by Erick Aybar and Teixeira.

"We have been struggling offensively and it's just good to come up with some big hits to give our pitchers runs to work with," Teixeira said.

Following a four-run rally by the Twins in the fifth, Teixeira lined a 1-2 fastball from Boof Bonser into the right field seats for his sixth homer as an Angel - and 26th overall.

Darren Oliver (5-1) tossed 2 1/3 scoreless frames in relief of ineffective starter Jon Garland to collect his 99th career win. Scot Shields provided a perfect inning of relief in the eighth before closer Francisco Rodriguez worked around a one-out single to notch his 49th save to snap the Angels' three-game home losing streak.

"It wasn't the best game but it was a positive step in the direction we want get back on," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We got the big hits with good pitching to hold off a good team tonight."

Even with the win, the Angels head into Sunday's series finale at risk of dropping their third straight series. That run follows a stretch in which Anaheim claimed a series win or tie in 20 straight sets against AL opponents.

Vladimir Guerrero's two-run double in the third got Anaheim's offense going before Torii Hunter drove home Teixeira when Twins third baseman Brian Buscher committed an error. Garret Anderson capped the four-run outburst with a sacrifice fly.

Following a solo shot from Alexi Casilla to get the Twins on the scoreboard, Aybar and Teixeira answered with their run-scoring singles to provide a 6-1 margin.

Minnesota fired back with four runs in the fifth. Following a sacrifice fly from rookie Denard Span, Joe Mauer roped a two-run single to left.

"We made some mistakes early on that put us down early, but we managed to put together a good inning to get us back in it," Mauer said. "We came up short, but we have a chance to take the series tomorrow from a playoff team."

Justin Morneau moved the Twins within 6-5 with a RBI groundout before Teixeira doubled the Angels' advantage in the next inning with his solo blast.