Matthews' bat, glove spur Angels to win 2 hours, 38 minutes ago

Matthews' bat, glove spur Angels to win 2 hours, 38 minutes ago



ANAHEIM, Calif. - Gary Matthews Jr. drove in four runs after robbing Boston's Coco Crisp of a home run, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Boston Red Sox 10-4 on Tuesday night.

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Joe Saunders (6-0) allowed four runs and eight hits over 5 1-3 innings, walking one and striking out two. With the victory, the Angels maintained a four-game lead over Seattle in the AL West.

Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (13-10) allowed seven runs — six earned — and seven hits in four-plus innings. Boston's lead in the AL East, which was a season-high 12 games as recently July 5, is down to five games by virtue of the Yankees' 9-2 win at Toronto. It's the smallest lead for the Red Sox since May 2, when they led by 4 1/2.

In the middle game of a series featuring the teams with the two best records in baseball, the Red Sox took a 4-2 lead in the fifth on Doug Mirabelli's two-run homer and an RBI double by Kevin Youkilis. But the Angels responded with five in the bottom half to pull ahead 7-4.

Orlando Cabrera burned his former team with an RBI double and Matthews put the Angels back in front with a two-run single through the left side that chased Wakefield. Garret Anderson slid home under Mirabelli's tag on Maicer Izturis' grounder to second baseman Dustin Pedroia with the infield in, and Jeff Mathis delivered Matthews with a suicide squeeze bunt that was ruled a single after reliever Manny Delcarmen bobbled the ball.

Matthews leaped above the fence to pull back Crisp's bid for his sixth home run, ending the fourth inning.

Mathis put the Halos ahead 2-1 in the bottom half of the fourth with a hit-and-run double to left-center that scored Izturis, whose seventh-inning homer off Curt Schilling in the series opener was the go-ahead run in a 4-2 Angels victory.

Matthews hit his 14th home run of the year, a solo shot, in the bottom of the eighth.

Crisp, who has only one RBI in his last nine games, was robbed of another one in the sixth. Mike Lowell tried to score from first on his double to left field, but was erased on a textbook relay from Anderson to Cabrera to Mathis.

Youkilis set a franchise record for most consecutive fielding chances by a first baseman without an error when he made an unassisted putout on Anderson's grounder in the seventh. Youkilis finished with seven putouts and two assists, extending his streak to 1,305 total chances since his last miscue on July 4, 2006 at Tampa Bay. The previous mark of 1,300 straight was set in 1921 by Stuffy McInnis, whose club record of 117 consecutive errorless games was shattered by Youkilis earlier this season.

Chone Figgins singled on Wakefield's first pitch of the game and stole second, making him the first player in the Angels' 47-year history with four consecutive seasons of 30 or more steals.

Notes:@ Mirabelli has caught all 41 of Wakefield's starts since being reacquired from San Diego on May 1, 2006 for catcher Josh Bard and reliever Cla Meredith. The Red Sox had little choice but to bring Mirabelli back, after Bard had committed 10 passed balls in Wakefield's first four starts last season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Mirabelli has had 12 passed balls with Wakefield on the mound since returning to the Sox. ... Figgins' first-inning steal was the 100th of the season for the Angels, the seventh straight season they've reached triple digits. They lead the AL and are attempting to join the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers as the only franchises in history to lead their league in that category four years in a row.