Iannetta's Grand Slam Helps Wilson, Angels Rout Tigers, 12-2
ANAHEIM (AP) — Chris Iannetta hit his fourth career grand slam, Albert Pujols and Matt Joyce also homered and C.J. Wilson pitched two-hit ball over six innings for the Los Angeles Angels in a 12-2 rout over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night.
Wilson (3-3) struck out seven and walked five in the opener of a four-game series. The left-hander allowed his only run in the third, hitting two-time AL MVP Miguel Cabrera on the right foot with the bases loaded after giving up a leadoff single to James McCann and two two-out walks.
Buck Farmer (0-1) made his first start of the season and third of his big league career after getting recalled from Triple-A Toledo, and was charged with seven runs and nine hits in five-plus innings. The 24-year-old right-hander, a fifth-round draft pick by the Tigers in 2013, was 5-1 with a 2.98 ERA in nine starts this season with the Mud Hens.
Pujols gave the Angels a 2-0 lead in the first with his 529th career home run and ninth this season, driving a 2-2 pitch to left field after a leadoff single by Erick Aybar.
Matt Joyce, who spent his 2008 rookie season with the Tigers before he was traded to Tampa Bay for pitcher Edwin Jackson, drove Farmer's first pitch of the second inning into the old Angels bullpen area in right field for his third homer of the season and second in two nights.
Johnny Giavotella led off the fifth with a triple and scored on Aybar's squeeze bunt to third baseman Nick Castellanos with the infield in to give the Angels a 4-1 lead. But Aybar, the only Angels player to start every game at the same position this season, pulled his left hamstring running to first base and was replaced at shortstop by Taylor Featherston.
The Angels' first four batters in the sixth reached base against Farmer, who was yanked after Joyce's infield hit with the bases loaded. David Freese scored on Grant Green's groundout, and pinch-runner Kirk Nieuwenhuis came home on Angel Nesbitt's wild pitch to make it 7-1.
The Angels broke it open in the seventh with Freese's bases-loaded RBI single and Iannetta's homer against Tom Gorzelanny. The only other grand slam given up by the nine-year veteran left-hander was by Houston's Matt Dominguez on June 18, 2013 while Gorzelanny was pitching for Milwaukee.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Tigers: Tigers SS Jose Iglesias, who has been bothered by a bruised knee, was in the starting lineup for the first time in five games and was 1 for 3 with an RBI double in the ninth. He was injured in a collision with Houston 1B Chris Carter on Saturday.
Angels: OF Collin Cowgill was placed on the 15-day DL, retroactive to May 26, because of a sprained right wrist. The injury occurred while he was taking batting practice on Sunday.
UP NEXT
Tigers: RHP Anibal Sanchez (3-5) has given up seven runs in each of his previous two starts, lasting 3 1-3 innings in an 8-1 loss to Milwaukee on May 19 and 5 2-3 in a no-decision against Houston on Sunday. Both games were in Detroit.
Angels: LHP Hector Santiago (3-3) gave up five earned runs in 26 innings over his last four starts, but had only one win to show for it.
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