Weaver Collects 13th WinFor Angels, Beat Royals 11-6
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Jered Weaver won his seventh straight start to tie a career-best, Mike Trout and Torii Hunter homered, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Kansas City Royals 11-6 victory Wednesday.
The Angels won the rubber game of the three-game series without slugger Albert Pujols, who missed his second game of the season because of a bruised right elbow.
Weaver (13-1) threw 101 pitches over five innings, allowing two runs and three hits while his AL-leading ERA rose from 2.20 to 2.27 because of Billy Butler's two-run homer in the fifth.
Royals right-hander Luke Hochevar (6-9) was ejected in the fourth inning by plate umpire Bob Davidson after hitting Trout - immediately following a homer by Bobby Wilson that gave the Angels an 8-0 lead.
Weaver's only loss was at Texas on May 13, when he pitched 3 1-3 innings and gave up eight runs. The All-Star right-hander is 16-2 with a 1.53 ERA in 24 starts at Angel Stadium since the beginning of last season and has yielded only six earned runs over 58 2-3 innings at the "Big A" this year.
Los Angeles staked Weaver to an 8-0 lead before Butler hit his 20th homer. Jeff Francoeur added a three-run shot in the eighth against Scott Downs to snap an 0 for 15 drought and slice the Angels' lead to 8-5. But Trout and Hunter homered back-to-back in the bottom half against Luis Coleman.
Trout's homer was his 16th. Hunter's was his 11th.
Weaver, who had hit only one batter in 110 2-3 innings this season coming into the game, plunked Lorenzo Cain, who homered Tuesday night, his first two times up.
Hochevar was charged with eight runs - six earned - and nine hits in his three-plus innings, along with two wild pitches. He was 3-1 with a 2.50 ERA over his previous six starts.
Hochevar gave up singles to his first three batters, all of whom scored. Trout, whose franchise-record run-scoring streak ended at 15 games on Tuesday, came home on a wild pitch to Mark Trumbo. Hunter scored on a groundout by Kendrys Morales, and former Royal Alberto Callaspo delivered Trumbo with the first of his two doubles.
The Angels parlayed two Kansas City errors into three more runs in the second inning despite getting only one ball out of the infield. Hunter hit a two-run single after a fielding error by first baseman Eric Hosmer on Wilson's sacrifice bunt and a throwing error to first by third baseman Mike Moustakas on a potential double-play grounder by Trout. Hunter scored the Halos' sixth run on a dribbler that Hochevar fielded to the right of the mound before getting the out at first.
NOTES: Weaver has a 1.74 ERA during his winning streak - his longest since 2006, when he won his first seven big league starts ... Hochevar has hit eight batters this season, tying his career high from 2009. ... Butler is one homer away from equaling his career-high total from 2009. ... Angels manager Mike Scioscia announced that struggling RHP Ervin Santana will be pushed back in the rotation to get a couple of needed `power" bullpen sessions in, and won't start again until next week's series against the AL West-leading Texas Rangers in Arlington - with the same 15-out limit Scioscia already had imposed on him. ... Angels Gold Glove SS Erick Aybar missed his fourth straight game after fouling a ball off his right big toe.
