Angels win seventh straight as Tribe continue to struggle

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Dustin Moseley didn't have much time to

savor his victorious major league debut with the Los Angeles

Angels. They optioned him back to Triple-A Salt Lake after the

game, and the nameplate over his locker was taken down quickly.

Elias Says ...
Dustin Moseley is the first starting pitcher in the live ball era (1920 to present) to win his major league debut despite throwing only five innings and allowing 10-plus hits. • For more Elias Says, click here.

"Anytime you have an opportunity like this, you're just full of

emotions," Moseley said after Monday night's 10-5 win over the

Cleveland Indians. "I'm super excited. The lights are a lot

brighter here. ... It was a great opportunity and a lot of fun out

there."

Garret Anderson and Orlando Cabrera hit two-run homers, Maicer Izturis had a career-high four hits, and the Angels won their

season-high seventh straight game.

The two-time defending AL West champs have won 12 of 13 overall

to climb within a half-game of division-leading Oakland.

"There's a lot of confidence in this room, you can feel that,"

Moseley said. "And that helped me out."

Moseley allowed four runs and 10 hits in five innings. The

right-hander, acquired from Cincinnati in a December 2004 trade

that sent Ramon Ortiz to the Reds, struck out two and didn't walk a

batter in a spot start for the ailing Jered Weaver.

The Indians have lost eight of 10 to fall a season-worst 10

games under .500 and 21 games out of first place in the AL Central.

Jake Westbrook (7-5) was charged with seven runs -- five earned --

and 12 hits over 3 2/3 innings in his shortest outing since May 8,

2005, when he lasted only 3 1/3 in a 7-2 loss at Texas.

Cleveland twice used home runs to pull within one run. Travis

Hafner narrowed the gap to 3-2 in the third with a leadoff drive

that just cleared the 18-foot wall in right field. It was his 28th

homer and ninth in 17 games.

Jason Michaels, who got Sunday off following a 6-for-34 rut that

dropped his average to .264, sliced the Angels' lead to 5-4 in the

fourth with his eighth homer of the season after a leadoff double

by Todd Hollandsworth. But Moseley and Hector Carrasco combined to

retire 11 in a row before Victor Martinez's leadoff single in the

eighth.

"I was working behind in the count a lot, made a couple of

mistakes, and they took advantage of it," Moseley said. "I'm glad

the team put some runs for me, and the bullpen did a great job."

Cabrera's seventh homer gave the Angels a 7-4 lead in the

fourth. Izturis singled in a run in the eighth and finished

4-for-5. Vladimir Guerrero went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI singles

for the Angels, who got 15 of their 17 hits in the first five

innings.

"Our situational hitting's much better, and we certainly got

our share of two-out hits tonight with guys in scoring position,"

manager Mike Scioscia said. "I liked our approach. We were patient

enough against a good pitcher, worked some deep counts and attacked

them the way we had to."

Moseley gave up singles to his first two batters before Ronnie Belliard singled home Grady Sizemore with two out for the game's

first run. But the Angels responded with three in the bottom half.

Guerrero tied it with a two-out RBI single after a double by

Izturis, then Anderson wrapped his eighth homer of the season

around the right-field pole on a 2-1 pitch. Westbrook came in with

an AL-best groundball-to-flyball ratio of 3.31, and had allowed

only five home runs in 96 1/3 innings over his previous 15 starts.

Anderson, the Angels' career leader in hits and RBI, started as

the designated hitter for the fifth straight game because of a sore

hamstring while Juan Rivera played left field. Rivera made it 4-2

in the bottom of the third with an RBI double after Mike Napoli

reached on a two-out throwing error by third baseman Ramon Vazquez.

Kendry Morales followed Rivera with a run-scoring single.

"It was my job to pick the team up right there, and I did the

complete opposite," Westbrook said.

Game notes
The Angels recalled LHP Joe Saunders from Salt Lake to make

another spot start on Tuesday night. Saunders' outing is for RHP

Kelvim Escobar, who has elbow problems but is expected to return to

the rotation during the weekend. ... Despite his brief outing,

Westbrook leads the Cleveland staff with 119 2/3 innings pitched

after throwing more than 200 innings in each of the previous two

seasons. He is trying to join Rick Waits, Charles Nagy and

knuckleballer Tom Candiotti as the only Indians pitchers since 1975

to work at least 200 innings in three or more consecutive seasons.

... Hafner has 104 career homers, just 10 shy of injured Angels CF

Darin Erstad for the most by a player born in North Dakota. Both

players hail from Jamestown. Erstad, on the DL indefinitely because

of ankle problems, has not homered in 91 at-bats this season. ...

Weaver, who missed his turn because of biceps tendinitis but also

is expected to return this weekend, made a special request to a

team official to have the video crew show brother Jeff's first

start for the St. Louis Cardinals on the scoreboard during batting

practice so he could see it. They did it just in time for Jered to

see his older brother and former Angels teammate give up a grand

slam to Atlanta's Brian McCann.