Pujols' Average Down To .194 After Blue Jays Blank Angels
ANAHEIM, (AP) — Henderson Alvarez pitched his first major league shutout with a six-hitter, Jose Bautista homered and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-0 on Friday night.
Toronto handed Ervin Santana his sixth loss in as many starts this season and kept slumping Albert Pujols homerless in a game that took just 2 hours, 10 minutes.
Alvarez (2-2) threw just 97 pitches, striking out three and walking one. The 22-year-old right-hander, whose only other appearance at Angel Stadium was in the 2010 All-Star Futures Game, has won back-to-back starts after going winless in his previous nine.
It was the first time in six outings this season that he did not allow a home run.
After three consecutive nights of complete-game shutouts at Angel Stadium — a three-hitter by Angels righty Jerome Williams, a no-hitter by teammate Jered Weaver and a series-opening three-hitter by Toronto's Brandon Morrow — Alvarez kept the string alive as he lowered his ERA from 3.62 to 2.83. The complete game was his third in 84 big league starts.
Santana allowed three runs and three hits over eight innings with 10 strikeouts, the eighth double-digit strikeout game of his career. But the Angels have been shut out in each of the beleaguered right-hander's last five outings.
Toronto grabbed a 3-0 lead in the third on Yunel Escobar's two-out RBI single and Bautista's homer to left-center on the next pitch. Those were the Blue Jays' only hits until Escobar's two-out double in the eighth.
Pujols' career-worst home run drought reached 33 games and 137 at-bats after he went 0 for 4, dropping his average below the Mendoza line at .194. The three-time NL MVP, who signed a 10-year, $240 million contract in December as a free agent, has just five RBIs in 108 at-bats.
NOTES: All five games on this Angels homestand have been completed in less than 2½ hours, including one that took 2:11 and two that lasted 2:10. ... Bautista, who outhomered Pujols 97-79 over the previous two seasons, has five in his first 27 games. ... The Angels optioned RHP Kevin Jepsen to Triple-A Salt Lake to clear a roster spot for RHP Ernesto Frieri, who was acquired Thursday in a trade with San Diego. The Angels came in with a 4.89 bullpen ERA, the third-highest in the AL, and are the only team without a victory among its relievers (0-6). ... Toronto C Jeff Mathis, playing his first game against the Angels since he was traded to the Blue Jays in December, was 0 for 2 with a walk and two strikeouts. ... In the crowd were Los Angeles Kings teammates Drew Doughty and Trevor Lewis, who sat in the first row behind the Angels' dugout. Doughty, a die-hard Blue Jays fan, was born about 120 miles from Toronto in London, Ont. The Kings have won both times Doughty has played in Toronto's Air Canada Centre, and he scored a goal in his first game there. ... Saturday will mark the 50th anniversary of the first no-hitter in Angels history, by Bo Belinsky in a 2-0 victory at Dodger Stadium. It came in his fourth major league start.
