Angels Rout Dodgers 5-0 In Freeway Series Opener
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Garrett Richards pitched a five-hitter for his first career shutout, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols had RBI doubles in a four-run first inning, and the Los Angeles Angels opened the Freeway Series with a 5-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.
Josh Hamilton homered in the sixth for the Angels, who improved the majors' second-best record to 67-44 with their seventh win in 10 games.
Richards (12-4) was dominant in his first nine-inning complete game, striking out nine and retiring 15 of 16 in the middle innings with a fastball regularly hitting 98 mph. He finished his first victory in four starts by getting pinch-hitter Andre Ethier on a groundout.
Richards outpitched Zack Greinke (12-7), who has just one victory in his last five starts.
Pujols reached second safely for the second time of the ball game when he tested the arm of Yasiel Puig in center, and caught the young Cuban sleeping.
After the game, Dodgers skipper Don Mattingly said of the play, "Albert just taught him a little lesson. Hopefully he learned a lesson from it."
Greinke yielded six hits and three earned runs in seven innings despite giving up just two hits after that messy first inning.
The NL-leading Dodgers opened the home half of this four-game interleague matchup with just their third loss in 10 games.
A day after scoring five runs in the first inning at Tampa Bay, the Angels had another quick start on the road. They led 4-0 after four hits, two unearned runs, two wild pitches by Greinke and two horrible fielding misplays from Carl Crawford and Hanley Ramirez.
Richards took control from there, allowing just one runner to reach third base. After his 122-pitch performance, Richards was doused with a bucket of ice water by his teammates.
Monday marked the first complete-game shutout against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium since Ubaldo Jimenez did it on June 1, 2011.
Los Angeles' two teams both appear headed for the playoffs in the same season for the first time since 2009, with the Dodgers sitting atop the NL standings and the Angels chasing down the Oakland Athletics for the majors' best record.
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