Angels Bats Battle Back on Dan Haren's Behalf

Final Score in Anaheim: Angels 8, Dodgers 5

Dan Haren saw ex Angels Bobby Abreu and Juan Rivera drive in four of the five runs the Dodgers scored in the first two innings Friday night. Down 5 zip the Halo bats got to work right away, scoring three runs in the bottom of the second on their way to an 8-5 victory over their So Cal interleague rivals. Six Angels drove in at least a runs with Torii Hunter and Erick Aybar driving in two.

After a squeeze bunt in the fourth inning by Bobby Wilson scored Erick Aybar for the tying run, Mike Trout hit the first pitch he saw over the left centerfield fence for a lead that the Angels would not relinquish. Aybar had tripled in a run to get the team closer.

Mike Scioscia had Hisanori Takahashi warming up in the bulllpen as early as the second inning but Haren managed to dance thru the raindrops that kept falling, making it thru five innings complete with a 102 pitches and a W to show for it, all courtesy of Angels batters beating up Chad Billingsley, whose strategy of challenging the Halos hitters with a five run lead only allowed them to square up the ball and come back all that much quicker.

The bullpen quartet of Takahashi, Scott Downs, Jason Isringhausen and Ernesto Frieri combined for four scoreless innings and allowed only four baserunners. A far cry from Haren's 9 Hits, 3 Walks and 5 ER in 5 IP.

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