- The AL West-leading LA Angels of Anaheim have been inconsistent as of late and will try to regroup against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the first of three straight games tonight from Angel Stadium.
The Angels have a comfortable 8 1/2-game lead over the Seattle Mariners in the division but have dropped three of four and five of the last eight games. In Sunday's 9-7 loss to the Chicago White Sox in the finale of a three-game set at U.S. Cellular Field, Juan Rivera hit a two-run homer and Vladimir Guerrero also went deep and scored twice in a losing effort.
Mike Napoli and Robb Quinlan added two hits and an RBI each, while starting pitcher Joe Saunders gave up only one run in six innings. Dustin Moseley permitted a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth to absorb the loss.
The Angels, though, did reduce their magic number for clinching the division to six with Seattle's loss to Tampa Bay.
Toeing the rubber for the Angels this evening will be Kelvim Escobar, who is 17-7 with a 3.25 ERA in 28 starts this season. Escobar has won back-to-back starts and is 6-1 in his previous seven trips to the hill. On September 12 at Baltimore, Escobar earned the win despite allowing six runs over 5 1/3 frames of an 18-6 victory at Camden Yards.
The right-handed Venezuelan is 6-7 with a 5.63 ERA in 34 career games (14 starts) against Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay won the last two meetings of a three-game set with Seattle after a four-game losing streak. In Sunday's 9-2 win the series finale, starting pitcher Andy Sonnanstine threw seven strong innings for the win and allowed one run on six hits with eight strikeouts. Delmon Young drove in four runs and Carl Crawford added two RBI for Tampa Bay.
The Devil Rays will send Edwin Jackson to the hill on Monday and he is 4-14 with a 5.94 ERA in 29 games (28 starts) this season. He is winless over his last four trips to the mound (0-2) and was beaten by Boston the last time out on September 12, yielding three runs over six innings.
Jackson, a right-hander, is 0-1 with a 5.23 ERA in five career games (two starts) against the Angels. Jackson lost his only start against the Angels this season in a 9-1 decision on April 25, surrendering six runs -- three earned -- over six innings of work.
Los Angeles is 3-2 against Tampa Bay this season, with a 2-0 record at home. The Angels are 10-4 in the last 14 meetings with the D-Rays.
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