Sun Apr 6 00:15:09 2008

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Angels edge Rangers

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Anaheim, CA (Sports Network) - Howie Kendrick went 2-for-4 with an RBI, extending his hit streak to all six games in '08, to lead the LA Angels of Anaheim past the Texas Rangers, 2-1, in the second of a three-game set.

Torii Hunter added an RBI double for the Angels, who bounced back from an 11-6 loss to Texas on Friday. Gary Matthews Jr. went 3-for-4 with a run scored, while Vladimir Guerrero had a 2-for-4 game. Jered Weaver (1-1) threw seven brilliant innings, surrendering just three hits while fanning six. Francisco Rodriguez came in for the ninth and gave up just one hit to get his third save of the season.

"Everything wasn't that sharp tonight," Weaver said. "I didn't have my best stuff, I felt fine but when I let loose, I didn't have the speed, so I changed up and hit spots."

David Murphy had a solo home run in the eighth off Darren Oliver for the lone run scored by the Rangers, who have lost two of three. Hank Blalock went 2- for-4, as Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley recorded the only other Texas hits. Kevin Millwood (0-2) gave up two runs on 12 hits, but he did go the distance for the Rangers. Millwood became the first Texas pitcher to throw a complete game in 195 games; the last pitcher to hurl a complete game was Millwood on August 29, 2006.

"I thought I pitched a pretty good bad game," Millwood said. "I gave up a ton of hits, but made pitches when I had to; just not enough of them."

In the bottom of the fourth, Casey Kotchman's single moved Garret Anderson to second, then Kendrick hit Anderson home with a single to left field. A few batters later, Erick Aybar walked to load the bases. Chone Figgins, however, grounded out to second base to leave the bases full.

Matthews singled to left to lead off the fifth inning, Guerrero followed suit with another single. Hunter put the Angels up 2-0 with a double to left that scored Matthews and left runners on second and third. Kotchman was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Kendrick grounded into a double play to kill the inning.

Murphy put thoughts of a shut-out to sleep with his solo home run off Oliver in the top of the eighth inning, which made it 2-1.

After Hamilton and Bradley grounded out, Blalock made it a ballgame with a double down the right field line.

Frank Catalanotto pinch-hit for Marlon Byrd as the go-ahead run. After working the count full, though, he grounded out to first base to end the game.

Game Notes

Millwood threw 106 pitches, 74 of which were strikes. Weaver tossed 93 pitches, 60 went for a strike...Attendance was 41,170...Time of game was 2:24.