Anaheim, CA (Sports Network) – Jeremy Guthrie came within two outs of his first career shutout and Matt Wieters knocked in the lone run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning, as Baltimore posted a 1-0 victory to complete its first-ever season sweep of the Angels.
With the O’s clinging to the narrowest of margins, Guthrie (8-13) was lifted in favor of reliever Michael Gonzalez after Reggie Willits hit a one-out double and Howie Kendrick followed with a single.
Gonzalez then struck out Bobby Abreu before Koji Uehara needed only one pitch to retire Torii Hunter on a popup to second to earn his fourth save.
Guthrie gave up four hits, walked one and struck out five.
“I wasn’t overthrowing and I had a nice flow,” Guthrie said. “It’s nice to come out on top with this one, especially against (Los Angeles starting pitcher) Jered Weaver.”
His counterpart, the aforementioned Weaver (11-10), pitched eight strong innings, striking out 11 and scattering five hits.
“It’s frustrating. To see Weaver pitch with that consistency is important to us,” said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. “He gave us a chance to win, but we let him on the down on the offensive side.”
The Orioles looked to break the scoreless deadlock in the top of the sixth, but Josh Bell was called out by home plate umpire Brian Gorman attempting to score on Nick Markakis’ single to center field.
Los Angeles threatened in the bottom of the inning, placing runners on the corners with one out, but Guthrie escaped the jam by getting Kendrick to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Luke Scott singled to begin the seventh for Baltimore, then took third on a double by Ty Wigginton. One out later, Wieters lofted a fly ball to left to plate Scott with the game’s only run.
Weaver has lost his last three starts…Baltimore infielder Julio Lugo left the game after getting hit in the batting helmet by a pickoff attempt in the first inning…Angels third baseman Alberto Callaspo went 0-for-3 to snap a 13-game hitting streak.