Farmer Shelled In Tigers' 12-2 Loss To Angels
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - The Detroit Tigers managed only two hits against C.J. Wilson during his six innings on the mound and got their only run off the left-hander when Miguel Cabrera was hit on the foot with the bases loaded in the third.
The two-time MVP hopped around for a couple of seconds, but stayed in the game after manager Brad Ausmus and a trainer went out to check on him. He stayed in the game with the Tigers training by two runs, but the Los Angeles Angels blew it open with three in the seventh and five in the eighth to hand the Tigers a 12-2 defeat.
"It stung Miggy at first, and it was in an area that has been a problem for him. But Miggy's pretty tough — and once I got over to him, I could tell he was going to be fine," Ausmus said. "When he went back on the field (for defense) and he chased a foul ball, he looked at me and gave me a thumbs up."
Angels catcher Chris Iannetta said it was a cutter that got away from Wilson.
"Obviously, we're not trying to hit him with the bases loaded," Iannetta said. "It just cut too much. C.J. has a ton of movement on his pitches. They start on the black and then take off. We were getting him to chase right there. It was unfortunate."
Buck Farmer (0-1) made his first start of the season after getting recalled from Triple-A Toledo, and was charged with seven runs and nine hits in five-plus innings against an offense that entered this four-game series with the league's worst team batting average (.234) and on-base percentage (.290).
The 24-year-old right-hander was 5-1 with a 2.98 ERA in nine starts this season with the Mud Hens.
"We didn't really do much. We didn't pitch great, we didn't hit great, and you're not going to win too many games like that," Ausmus said. "Buck's last inning obviously cost him some runs, but before that he did OK. Tonight wasn't his best night, but he's still got a chance to be a very good pitcher and he's got some good nights ahead of him."
Albert Pujols gave the Angels a 2-0 lead in the first with his 529th career home run and ninth this season after a leadoff single by Erick Aybar.
"It felt great, especially when you had a great team on the other side that can do the same thing against your guy," Pujols said. "It was good to give C.J. some run support — and it's always good to win the first game of a series."
Matt Joyce, who spent his 2008 rookie season with the Tigers before he was traded to Tampa Bay for pitcher Edwin Jackson, drove Farmer's first pitch of the second inning into the old Angels bullpen area in right field for his third homer of the season and second in two nights.
"We didn't have too much information on Farmer — just a couple of videos of him from last year. But we knew he liked to get on top of the fastball, and we took advantage of it," Angels second baseman Johnny Giavotella said.
Giavotella led off the fifth with a triple and scored on Aybar's squeeze bunt to third baseman Nick Castellanos with the infield in to give the Angels a 4-1 lead. But Aybar, the only Angels player to start every game at the same position this season, pulled his left hamstring running to first base and was replaced at shortstop by Taylor Featherston.
The Angels' first four batters in the sixth reached against Farmer, who was yanked after Joyce's infield hit with the bases loaded. David Freese scored on Grant Green's groundout, and pinch-runner Kirk Nieuwenhuis came home on Angel Nesbitt's wild pitch to make it 7-1.
The Angels broke it open in the seventh with Freese's bases-loaded RBI single and Iannetta's grand slam against Tom Gorzelanny. Los Angeles got back to the .500 mark with one of its most impressive offensive showings of the season. The fact it came against a pitcher making his third big league start made no difference to them.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Tigers: Tigers SS Jose Iglesias, who has been bothered by a bruised knee, was in the starting lineup for the first time in five games and was 1 for 3 with an RBI double in the ninth. He was injured in a collision with Houston 1B Chris Carter on Saturday.
Angels: OF Collin Cowgill was placed on the 15-day DL, retroactive to May 26, because of a sprained right wrist. The injury occurred while he was taking batting practice Sunday.
UP NEXT:
Tigers: RHP Anibal Sanchez (3-5) has given up seven runs in each of his previous two starts, lasting 3 1/3 innings in an 8-1 loss to Milwaukee on May 19 and 5 2-3 in a no-decision against Houston on Sunday. Both games were in Detroit.
Angels: LHP Hector Santiago (3-3) gave up five earned runs in 26 innings over his last four starts, but had only one win to show for it.
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