Coming off his first loss of the season, LA Angels of Anaheim ace Jered Weaver takes the ball tonight in the opener of a three-game interleague series against the San Diego Padres.
Weaver has allowed only three homers this season and will have the luxury of competing in pitcher-friendly Petco Park. In Sunday's 13-6 loss at Texas, Weaver had the worst outing of the year against arguably the most-feared lineup in baseball by allowing eight runs and 10 hits in only 3 1/3 innings.
The lanky right-hander, who threw a no-hitter on May 2 versus Minnesota, was 5-0 with a 1.60 ERA in seven starts before the loss in Arlington. He is now 5-1 and his ERA ballooned to 2.83. Weaver is 4-0 in four home starts this season, but 1-1 in four road outings. He threw a five-hit shutout in his only appearance against San Diego back on June 14, 2009, when he fanned five batters and walked one in a 6-0 victory.
Anaheim just earned a split of a two-game series versus the Chicago White Sox at Angel Stadium and dropped a 6-1 decision on Thursday. C.J. Wilson was making his third start since last Friday due to a rain delay against Texas and was saddled with the loss, allowing four runs -- one earned -- in 3 2/3 frames. He walked six batters and struck out three.
"We'll turn the page on this one," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "C.J. had trouble putting pitches in the zone. He started to feel a little under the weather as the game went on."
Albert Pujols homered for the second straight game for the Angels, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. The Angels, who will begin a 10-game road trip tonight against San Diego, Oakland and Seattle, are hoping some games against the National League will inspire Pujols even more since he wreaked havoc on the league with St. Louis.
San Diego will begin a three-game series with LA's other ballclub tonight after splitting a pair of matchups with the Dodgers at Petco Park. After winning the opener of a two-game set with their NL West rivals, the Padres dropped an 8-1 decision on Thursday.
Edinson Volquez was cooled off on the mound and absorbed the loss for allowing five runs -- three earned -- and seven hits in five innings.
"His stuff was fine. He just didn't pitch as well as we've seen him. In a way, he's set a pretty high standard for himself. He had a sub-three ERA coming into this game," Padres manager Bud Black said of Volquez.
Chris Denorfia knocked in the lone run for San Diego and John Baker posted a pair of doubles in a losing effort. The Padres had a two-game winning streak stopped and lost for the eighth time in 13 tries.
Jeff Suppan will make his fourth start of the season for the Friars Friday and is coming off the first loss of the season. He won his first two outings over Milwaukee and Colorado at home, but a 3-2 setback in Philadelphia on Sunday sent him to the loss column.
Suppan lasted a season-high six innings, but was reached for three runs -- two earned -- and six hits. The veteran right-hander, who missed all of last season due to injury and is taking the place of injured starter Cory Luebke, has won both of his starts at spacious Petco Park this season and is 5-3 with a 4.87 ERA in 12 career starts against the Angels. Suppan, of course, spent time in the American League with Boston and Kansas City.
San Diego and Anaheim are meeting for the first time since the Angels swept a three-game series in 2009. These two clubs have met on 22 occasions during interleague play, splitting the series at 11 wins apiece.
The Angels finished tied with the New York Yankees for the best interleague mark a year ago at 13-5. They have won the last nine series against the Senior Circuit since 2010 and are 62-28 in interleague action since 2007. Overall, the Angels are 152-114 against the NL and the Padres own a 103-136 mark in games played against the American League.
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