Angels beat Red Sox 4-2 1 hour, 34 minutes ago

Angels beat Red Sox 4-2 1 hour, 34 minutes ago



ANAHEIM, Calif. - Curt Schilling returned from the disabled list and gave up a tiebreaking home run to Maicer Izturis in the seventh inning as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Boston Red Sox 4-2 on Monday night in a matchup of division leaders.

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Izturis turned on a 1-1 pitch and drove it into the lower seats in the right-field corner — his third homer in 187 at-bats this season. Jeff Mathis chased Schilling with a double that snapped an 0-for-18 drought and scored on Chone Figgins' sacrifice fly against Julian Tavarez.

Justin Speier (1-2) pitched a scoreless seventh for his first victory with Los Angeles. Scot Shields struck out Coco Crisp looking with two on in the eighth, and Francisco Rodriguez got three outs for his 28th save in 31 chances, striking out Brandon Moss with two on to end the game.

Moss made his major league debut, entering when Manny Ramirez was ejected by plate umpire James Hoye in the fourth for arguing a checked-swing third strike. It was the first ejection this season for Ramirez.

White the Angels' boosted their AL West lead to four games over second-place Seattle, Boston's AL East margin over the second-place Yankees was cut to six games — the smallest for the Red Sox since May 11. They led by 12 games on July 5 and are 15-13 since then.

Schilling (6-5) gave up four runs and nine hits in six-plus innings and struck out five in his first start since June 18 in Atlanta. He went on the DL the following day with tendinitis in his shoulder.

The six-time All-Star has lost three consecutive starts for the first time since dropping four straight in 2000 with Arizona.

Angels starter Jered Weaver, winless in three career starts against Boston, allowed two runs and six hits in six innings.

Boston's Kevin Youkilis was struck on the left side of his head by a one-hop throw from Mathis while stealing second base in the first inning. His next time up, he homered into the left-field bullpen after a two-out walk to Dustin Pedroia.

Casey Kotchman's two-run single tied it during an eventful fourth inning for Schilling, who nearly injured his pitching hand while getting a piece of Vladimir Guerrero's bouncing single over the mound.

Schilling took two warmup throws before continuing, and Garret Anderson followed with a fielder's choice grounder to first that could have been a double play had Schilling moved faster to cover first base. But shortstop Julio Lugo had to hold the ball, and Schilling slapped his thigh in disgust after realizing his mistake.

Gary Matthews Jr. then doubled, and Kotchman drove in both runners with a single through the box. Matthews was 4-for-26 against Schilling before that hit.

Boston stranded the potential go-ahead run at third base in the fifth when David Ortiz's broken-bat grounder to the left side deflected off the glove of a diving Figgins and right to former Boston shortstop Orlando Cabrera, whose throw to first got Ortiz by a step.

Notes:@ Moss was promoted from Triple-A Pawtucket to replace first baseman Eric Hinske, who was placed on the bereavement list so that he could be with his wife Kathryn during her complicated pregnancy. ... The sellout crowd of 44,142 included the entire roster and coaching staff of the Lancaster JetHawks, Boston's Class-A affiliate in the California League. Manager Chad Epperson and his players had an off day between a series at Lake Elsinore and one at home against Modesto.