Vlad leads Angels over O's at Camden Yards

Sep 12, 2007, 3:15 GMT

Baltimore, MD - Vladimir Guerrero returned to the lineup and homered twice as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim beat the Baltimore Orioles, 10-5, in the opener of a three-game set at Camden Yards.

Guerrero missed the previous four games because of an inflamed right triceps.

The Angels, though, did lose center fielder Gary Matthews, who left with a sprained right ankle in the third inning. X-rays on the ankle were negative, and team spokesman Eric Kay said Matthews will likely sit out the remainder of the road trip, which ends Sunday against the White Sox in Chicago.

Chone Figgins had three hits, four RBI, two stolen bases and a run scored while Reggie Willits also had three hits with an RBI, one stolen base and two runs scored for the Angels, who snapped a brief two-game skid.

Angels starter Joe Saunders (8-3) threw five innings, allowing four runs on 10 hits.

Kevin Millar had three hits including a home run and Melvin Mora also finished with three hits for the Orioles, who have lost 17 of 20.

Victor Santos (1-5), in his Orioles debut, was tagged for five runs on seven hits in just 2 2/3 frames.

'I thought after the second inning the location of his pitches didn't have a whole lot of finish to them,' said Baltimore manager Dave Trembley. 'With two strikes, there wasn't a put away pitch. First couple of innings, he got outs early in the count. It seemed like after that inning, the deeper in the count they took him, the harder time he had getting the outs, they fouled them off, fouled them off. And they did what they did with him.'

Baltimore struck first with a run in the second. Millar doubled to left center, moved to third on Aubrey Huff's single to left and scored when Ramon Hernandez grounded into a double play.

The Angels responded with five runs in the third. Howie Kendrick led off with a double to right and Jeff Mathis singled to center before Willits singled to right tying the game at 1-1. Figgins followed with an RBI double to left center and Orlando Cabrera drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to right before Guerrero belted a two-run homer to center.

Figgins added to the Angels lead in the top of the fourth with an RBI double to right.

Millar hit his 16th homer of the season in the home half of the fourth, a two- run shot to left.

The Orioles cut their deficit to 6-4 in the sixth. Tike Redman led off with a triple to right and with one out scored on Nick Markakis' ground out.

The Angels, however, extended their lead in the top of the seventh. Guerrero belted his second two-run homer of the game and Kendrick doubled in a run to push the lead to 9-4.

Miguel Tejada's RBI single in the bottom of the frame accounted for Baltimore's final run before O's reliever Radhames Liz issued four walks in the ninth and forced home another run for the Angels.

Game Notes

It was Guerrero's 33rd career multi-homer game and fourth this season...The Angels have won five straight road games...Saunders won for the first time in four starts since August 19th...Santos made his first start since Sept. 5, 2006...The loss guaranteed Baltimore its 10th straight losing season...Attendance was 15,371.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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