Angels’ Weaver near-perfect for 7 innings in 7-0 win over Indians

Angels’ Weaver overpowers Indians in 7-0 win

CLEVELAND — Jered Weaver, staked to a seven-run lead after two innings, earned his first win in more than a month as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Cleveland Indians 7-0 on Wednesday night.

Weaver (12-11) retired 21 of the 22 batters he faced over seven innings to snap the longest losing streak of his career at four games. He is 1-4 in seven starts since defeating Detroit 4-2 on Aug. 6.

The right-hander struck out seven to take over the AL lead with 218, four more than Seattle’s Felix Hernandez. He retired the first 11 men he faced until Shin-Soo Choo hit a sharp single past second baseman Howie Kendrick with two outs in the fourth. That gave the outfielder a .476 (10 for 21) career average against the Angels ace.

The Angels got three singles and three walks off Jeanmar Gomez (3-4) to take a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Juan Rivera had an RBI single, Kendrick walked with the bases loaded and rookie Hank Conger got his first career hit, a two-run single.

A throwing error by Indians third baseman Jayson Nix in the second inning helped Los Angeles go ahead 7-0. Torii Hunter had an RBI single and scored on Hideki Matsui’s triple off the wall in center. Rivera singled home Matsui.

Weaver set down the last 10 Indians he faced. He struck out the side in the fifth, throwing 14 of 19 pitches for strikes.

Before the game, Angels manager Mike Scioscia expressed confidence in Weaver.

“I think right now he’s throwing the ball better than any time we’ve seen him,” Scioscia said. “He’s really putting pitches together better than he ever has. He’s executing them better.

“His stuff right now is every bit as crisp as it was at the beginning of the year, and that’s a huge sign.”

Weaver has pitched 204 innings, seven shy of his career high set a year ago.

Michael Brantley got a one-out single in the ninth off Angels reliever Matt Palmer to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games. Asdrubal Cabrera then hit into a game-ending double play.

Gomez gave up six earned runs and seven hits over three innings to drop to 0-4 in his five starts. The rookie right-hander had not pitched since Sept. 5, being skipped over in the rotation last week to limit his innings workload. He had pitched 116 innings in the minors and has worked 47 innings for Cleveland.

The last 21 Angels failed to reach base. Gomez retired the final three men he faced, then three Cleveland relievers combined to pitch six perfect innings. Justin Germano struck out four over three innings, Frank Herrmann retired all six men he faced and Jensen Lewis struck out one in the ninth.

NOTES: Indians manager Manny Acta said RHP Justin Masterson will start Saturday in Kansas City. Masterson had been moved to the bullpen a week ago to cut down his workload, but will replace RHP Mitch Talbot, who left his start Sunday after 14 pitches with shoulder inflammation. Acta said Talbot will be skipped in the rotation, but will likely return for a start the following week. … Conger, the Angels’ No. 1 draft pick in 2006, made his first major league start. He struck out in his first career at-bat Saturday. … The Indians’ Triple-A farm team at Columbus beat Durham 4-0 and lead the best-of-five series for the International League championship 2-0.