ANAHEIM (Reuters) - The Tampa Bay bullpen provided able support to starting pitcher David Price as the Major League-leading Rays held off the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 on Wednesday.
The Rays used five relievers including Randy Choate and Grant Balfour, who combined to get the last two outs of the seventh where Los Angeles was threatening to tie the game.
The Angels (15-21) trailed 4-2 with men on second and third with one out but Tampa allowed only one run on a sacrifice-fly, helping Price improve to 5-1 after he surrendered three runs in 6 1/3 innings.
"I really feel like that was the best stuff I've had all year," Price told reporters. "It was a little bit of a letdown that I only went 6 1/3, but that's the way it goes sometimes."
The victory gave the Rays (24-10) their first series win at Angels stadium since 1999.
They raced out to a 4-1 lead, after RBI hits from Ben Zobrist and B.J. Upton while scoring runs on two passed balls by Angels catcher Ryan Budde in the first and fifth innings.
Angels starter Jered Weaver (4-2) struck out a career-high 12 and surrendered just one earned run of the four allowed in the loss.
Howard Kendrick went 3-for-4 with an RBI double in the sixth while Torii Hunter had an RBI single in the third for Los Angeles.
"Obviously, we cracked the door open a little bit, and they kept chipping away," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "(Weaver) did what he could, but we didn't support him."
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles, editing by Patrick Johnston)
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