Friday, July 29, 2011

Pitcher Tyler Chatwood roughed up in Angels loss to Tigers

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Five days after one of his best starts of the season, Angels right-hander Tyler Chatwood (pictured above) had one of his worst Friday, giving up six runs in 5 1/3 innings of a 12-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers.

Chatwood, who handcuffed the Baltimore Orioles his last time out, hit a couple of bumps in the road in the first five innings in Detroit, giving up a home run and a run-scoring double. But he completely fell apart in the sixth when the Tigers took advantage of the right-hander's wildness to break the game open.

Andy Dirks led off the inning and was hit by a pitch before Chatwood walked Brennan Boesch. After an out, Victor Martinez singled to drive in one run, then Carlos Guillen drove a pitch to the wall in center for a two-run triple.

Alex Avila scored Guillen with a single, and after Chatwood walked Wilson Betemit, he was gone.

The six earned runs are the most Chatwood (6-7), a rookie, has allowed in a start in his career

It was a tight game until the sixth, with the Angels going ahead twice only to see the Tigers tie the game in their next at-bat each time.

In the first, Maicer Izturis hit the second pitch of the game over the right-field wall, but Boesch, a Harvard-Westlake High graduate, matched that in the bottom half the inning with a massive blast off Chatwood that was hit so deep into the right-field bleachers that Angels outfielder Torii Hunter didn't bother to move.

The homer was the eighth allowed by Chatwood this season but just the second since June 6.

The Angels went back in front in the fifth when Howie Kendrick got a gift double after his sharp ground ball bounced off the glove of third baseman Wilson Betemit into shallow left-center field. Mark Trumbo  followed with a line-drive single to center to bring Kendrick home.

Then in the Tigers' half of the fifth, Avila singled with one out and came home an out later on Ramon Santiago's double to right.

Detroit added two runs in the seventh on back-to-back RBI doubles by Martinez and Guillen and four more in the eighth, the last score coming on a bizarre play that started with Torii Hunter making a splendid sliding catch of Carlos Guillen's blooper and ended with Detroit's Miguel Cabrera lumbering home from third after Hunter inexplicably lobbed the ball toward an unoccupied part of the infield.

Five Tigers finished with at least two hits, led by Martinez and Santiago who had three each. Martinez and Guillen also drove in four runs apiece.

Izturis led the Angels with two of their five hits.

The loss snapped a modest three-game winning streak for the Angels, who are 5-3 on a 10-game road trip that concludes Sunday.

RELATED:

Angels-Tigers box score

Angels' chances of landing Aramis Ramirez: slim and none

Peter Bourjos improves batting but remains unsatisfied

-- Kevin Baxter in Detroit

Photo credit: Leon Halip/Getty Images

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