Wilting Weaver Gives Angels No Chance In Loss to Pirates

Angels ace Jered Weaver looked weak in surrendering four runs in six innings to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opening game of an interleague series against the Post-Stargellian-Buccos in Anaheim.

The game would have been a smidgen closer had Peter Bourjos not lost a ball in the dusk. The longest day of the year featured a few seconds of the late hour sky the same color as a rubbed-up baseball and at that exact moment one was hit right to where either Bourjos or Mike Trout would get it. The ball embarrassingly plopped right down on the warning track a few feet from the red-faced outfielder.

Down 4-0 in the seventh, Albert Pujols hit a solo home run off of Pirates starter Gerrit Cole, the first home run the much-hyped prospect has surrendered in the bigs. Cole's first major league walk came to the next batter, Mark Trumbo. Alberto Callaspo would drive in Trumbo to make it 4-2. With a man on and two outs, Hank Conger drove a ball to the RF wall into a National League defender's glove and that was all the offense would muster.

Billy Buckner (called up to take the place of the recently DLd Jason Vargas) came on in relief of Weaver and pitched two scoreless innings before leaving with a man on in the ninth. Michael Kohn made sure that stranded runner would score and the final was 5-2.

Weaver looked weak - perhaps still getting back into big league shape after a long layoff for a non-pitching arm injury sustained in April - and with the Vargas bloodclot DL visit, the Angels just got a much tougher road to the playoffs or even to respectability.