Angels Drop Saturday Afternoon Game 5-4 To Giants

Final from San Francisco: Angels 4, Giants 5

WP: Tim Hudson LP: Hector Santiago S: Santiago Casilla

Age is just a number. Tim Hudson is thirty-nine. Hector Santiago is twenty-seven. Hudson allowed two hits across eight innings of work while Santiago dealt nine across five innings. Not good.

The Giants offense sprinted to an early lead when Nori Aoki's line drive in the second inning scored two runs. Mike Trout responded in the fourth inning, launching his sixth home run of the season. Sadly, the only other player to contribute the rest of the way would be Albert Pujols and a home run of his own. Through Hudson's eight innings of work, those two home runs were the only hits produced by the Angels. The Giants, though, were just rolling.

Things did get a bit dicey for the Giants in the ninth inning as their pitching stuttered. Hudson opened with a walk before being pulled, so manager Bruce Bochy inserted Sergio Romo to finish the game. Bochy would be mistaken because the Halos started swinging at fast balls. Mike Trout put Erick Aybar into scoring position and Kole Calhoun's line drive put the team within two runs. Casilla took over for the Giants, but a David Freese ground ball made it a one-run game. With speed becoming a necessity, Scioscia had Taylor Featherston pinch-run for Freese; however, he would quickly become the final out after being tagged with a ball hit by Matt Joyce. So, yes, the Angels lost because a runner was hit by the ball. Well, maybe. The defense was positioned specifically for a lefty.

The Angels are now 5.5 games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West. Tomorrow's game starts at 1:00PM with Jered Weaver and Tim Lincecum on the hill.