The Angels used three home runs, including a two-run shot from Vernon Wells in the 6th, to muscle their way pat the Washington Nationals 11-5. The victory gives the Angels their 5th consecutive series win, plus it moves them over the .500 mark for the first time since June 3rd. This series has been a wake-up call to the Angels offense and they have 31 hits in their first two games against Washington.
The club has gone 11-5 over their last 16 games after dropping their previous six, and trail the Texas Rangers by a game and a half in the AL West.
The Halos entered the sixth inning trailing the Nats 5-3, but Erick Aybar led off the inning with his fifth homer of the season to move the Halo to within a run. Two batters later, Wells put the Angels on top to stay with his 10th home run of the season and his 3rd in the past four games.
In the 8th inning, the Angels batted around while scoring 5 more runs to put the game out of reach for Washington. The Angels strung together 5 straight hits with the two big blows coming from Mark Trumbo and Hank Conger. Trumbo doubled to deep center scoring Howie Kendrick and Alberto Callaspo. That was followed by Hank Conger’s two-run blast to right, his first career home run at Angels Stadium.
Entering tonight’s game, the Angels had hit just 14 home runs in Anaheim compared to the 46 hit while on the road.
Hisanori Takahashi (2-1) gets the win after allowing an unearned run in the top half of the 6th. Angels starter Joel Pineiro lasted 5.2 innings, gaving up 3 earned runs on 8 hits, while striking out 2 and walking one.