Guthrie allows 4 hits, relievers wrap up Orioles’ 6-game season sweep of Angels with 1-0 win

Guthrie dominates, Orioles sweep stumbling Angels

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jeremy Guthrie allowed four hits while pitching into the ninth inning, and two relievers finished the Orioles’ 1-0 victory over Los Angeles on Sunday, completing Baltimore’s six-game season sweep of the struggling Angels.

Luke Scott scored on Matt Wieters’ sacrifice fly in the seventh. The Orioles limited the Angels to one run in three games while sweeping the season series for the first time by either club in a half-century of competition.

Guthrie (8-13) allowed just one runner to reach third base until Reggie Willits hustled for a one-out double in the ninth and advanced on Howie Kendrick’s single.

Reliever Michael Gonzalez struck out Bobby Abreu, and Torii Hunter popped out on Koji Uehara’s only pitch in his fourth save.

The Orioles swept three games from the Angels at Camden Yards earlier this month after Buck Showalter took over as manager. At 16-11 in August, they’ll finish this month with a winning record for the first time since 1997 — their first winning record in any month since June 2008.

The Angels’ three straight losses to the majors’ second-worst team might be a low point in a season that went wrong almost from the start. The three-time defending AL West champions have lost six of seven, and Los Angeles scored its only run against Baltimore on a first-inning balk Friday night.

Guthrie fell just short of his first career shutout while winning a brisk duel with Angels ace Jered Weaver (11-10), who struck out 11 — including his 200th of the season — during eight innings of five-hit ball.

Neither team even got a runner to third base until the sixth. After Scott and Ty Wigginton led off the seventh with hits off Weaver, Wieters’ one-out fly was plenty deep to score Scott.

Although Guthrie led the AL with 17 losses and 35 homers allowed last season, he has stuck in the Orioles rotation all year, eating up innings during a tough season. He was solid after the All-Star break, but gave up 11 earned runs in his previous two starts, allowing a season-high 10 hits to the White Sox on Tuesday.

Baltimore nearly scored in the sixth when Josh Bell reached on an error and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Nick Markakis then hit a short single to center, but Bell was called out by home plate umpire Brian Gorman after he collided with leaping catcher Jeff Mathis. Replays appeared to show Bell reaching out to touch home plate an instant before Mathis tagged him.

Los Angeles then put two runners on in the sixth, but Kendrick grounded into an inning-ending double play.

NOTES: Orioles 2B Julio Lugo drew a leadoff walk, but left the game after Weaver’s pickoff throw hit him in the helmet. … Baltimore 2B Brian Roberts and CF Adam Jones remained out of the lineup with injuries. Jones missed his fifth straight game with a bruised left shoulder, but Showalter is confident he’ll be available when the Orioles open a six-game homestand against Boston on Tuesday. Roberts has an injured hip, with no date for his return. Both players will get extra treatment in Baltimore on Monday. … Los Angeles Galaxy star David Beckham attended the game with his son, Cruz.