CBSSports.com wire reports
Sep. 4, 2011

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The back end of the rotation has been a major problem this season for the Los Angeles Angels, so manager Mike Scioscia and pitching coach Mike Butcher are hoping Joel Pineiro’s best starts are ahead of him with the club still in playoff contention.

Pineiro posted his first victory in almost two months, leading the Angels to a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday in the rubber game of the weekend series.

Los Angeles remained 3½ games behind AL West-leading Texas, which won 11-4 at Boston.

“Every game I go out there I want to contribute and not just count on the big three, like we’ve been doing all year,” Pineiro said. “Hopefully me and Tyler Chatwood, or whoever is at the back of the rotation can help our team the rest of the season. We need it.”

Pineiro (6-6) allowed a run and five hits over seven innings. The right-hander, making his third start since a brief demotion to the bullpen, was 0-3 with a whopping 10.30 ERA in six starts since beating Seattle 9-3 on July 9 at Angel Stadium.

“I’m just trusting my stuff now and believing in not trying to invent the wheel,” said Pineiro, who made three relief appearances before returning to the rotation. “I’m just finding my sinker, working down in the zone and being aggressive with it instead of just trying to get a feel for it. Today I had a good sinker that stayed down and I got a lot of ground-ball outs, and I also had good defense behind me.”

Bobby Abreu homered for the Angels, and Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells added insurance runs with RBI singles in the eighth inning. Rookie Jordan Walden followed Scott Downs out of the bullpen with a hitless ninth to get his 28th save in 37 chances.

Scioscia gave Abreu a day off on Saturday, ending any chance he had of playing in 150 or more games for the 14th consecutive season. He remains tied with Willie Mays for the major league record in that category.

“I don’t control that,” Abreu said. “I don’t want a day off. I just like to play every single day. But there’s nothing I can do about it. Today I hit a homer that helped the team win, and that’s all that really matters to me.”

Abreu connected in the first for his seventh homer, hitting a towering drive to right field on a 3-2 pitch that ended up in the back of the old Angels bullpen. It ended a home run drought of 18 games and 60 at-bats since his tiebreaking two-run shot against Yankees closer Mariano Rivera on Aug. 9 in New York.

“It’s been a long time since I hit a homer,” he said. “I think that I need to just work on my approach. I don’t feel the same a little bit. Sometimes I just miss pitches that I used to hit, so I’ve been going to the video to see what I’ve been doing wrong and make my adjustments.”

Minnesota starter Kevin Slowey (0-4) allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings before calling it a day because of a slight hamstring problem. Twins catcher Joe Mauer returned to the lineup as the designated hitter, going 1 for 2 with a homer and two walks after missing two games because of an upper respiratory infection.

The Angels made it 2-0 in the third when second baseman Trevor Plouffe lost track of the number of outs and didn’t attempt a relay to first following Howie Kendrick’s one-out grounder to third. Hank Conger scored on the play and Kendrick was credited with his 51st RBI.

Plouffe apologized to Slowey after the inning ended.

“Slowey pitched well and he doesn’t deserve that,” Plouffe said. “Bottom line, it’s just a stupid play. Every play is big. But we all know that mistakes happen. Gardy [manager Ron Gardenhire] said: ‘Forget about it. You’ve got a big at-bat coming up. Let’s go.’ That’s what a good manager would say. That’s what he said to me and that’s what I did. I’ll tell you what, it’s not going to happen again to me.”

Mauer got the Twins on the board in the fourth with his second home run of an injury-plagued season that has limited the three-time AL batting champ to just 73 games. He had a career-high 28 homers in 2009, when he was the AL MVP.

Notes

• The Angels increased their active roster to 31 players by recalling RHP Trevor Bell from Triple-A Salt Lake to help shore up their bullpen.
• The Angels’ Orem farm club in the Advanced Rookie League made the playoffs for the 11th consecutive season under manager Tom Kotchman. Three of the players in Sunday’s Angels lineup — Kendrick, Erick Aybar and 1B Mark Trumbo – started out on that club. So did CF Peter Bourjos, who had the day off.
• The Angels are 6-4 this season when they get a first-inning home run — including Saturday night’s 10-6 victory, which Trumbo ignited with his first career grand slam.
• Aybar extended his hitting streak to 14 games with two singles, including his 11th bunt hit of the season.
• Conger threw out Jason Kubel and Danny Valencia trying to steal second base in the second and fifth innings, respectively. The rookie came in having thrown out only eight of 58 baserunners trying to steal.
• Downs has not allowed an earned run in 27 2/3 career innings against Minnesota, spanning 26 appearances.

By Eric Stephen

– Managing Editor

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Aug 20, 2011 – Joel Pineiro makes his return to the starting rotation on Saturday night as the Los Angeles Angels battle the Baltimore Orioles in the second game of a three-game weekend series in Anaheim. Pineiro, who was removed from the starting rotation three weeks ago, made three appearances in relief. His return to the rotation is really more out of necessity than anything.

Rookie Garrett Richards strained his right groin Monday night against Texas and was placed on the disabled list. Fellow rookie Tyler Chatwood was optioned to Triple A Salt Lake on Thursday when catcher Hank Conger was recalled. The Angels are desperate to find starters to follow Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, and Ervin Santana in their rotation.

Pineiro impressed in his three shutout innings in relief of Richards on Monday, including just the third three-strikeout inning of Pineiro’s career. However, Pineiro allowed runs in his other two relief outings, giving up six runs (five earned) in eight innings overall in relief. Since the All-Star break, Pineiro has an 11.39 ERA in 21 1/3 innings, with eight walks and just five strikeouts.

Tommy Hunter, who was acquired along with Chris Davis from Texas in the Koji Uehara trade on July 30, gets the start for Baltimore. Hunter is 2-2 with a 4.28 ERA on the season, including 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in four games, including three starts, with the Orioles. The Angels have won three of four games against Baltimore this season.

Saturday’s 6:05 p.m. PDT game will be televised by Fox Sports West. For more news and information on the Angels, be sure to read Halos Heaven.

Read More: Dan Haren (P – ANA), Joel Pineiro (P – ANA), Jered Weaver (P – ANA), Ervin Santana (P – ANA), Chris Davis (1B – BAL), Hank Conger (C – ANA), Tommy Hunter (P – BAL), Koji Uehara (P – TEX), Tyler Chatwood (P – ANA), Garrett Richards (P – ANA), Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Angels, Baltimore Orioles at Los Angeles Angels, Aug 20, 2011 6:05 PM PDT

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Los Angeles Angels have demoted right-hander Joel Pineiro to the bullpen following his fourth poor start in a row.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia made the move Thursday, one day after Pineiro was charged with seven runs over 4 1-3 innings in a 12-4 loss to Minnesota. No decision has been made on who will take his place in the rotation.

Pineiro is 5-6 with a 5.31 ERA in 18 starts. In his last four games, the 32-year-old Pineiro has been tagged for 22 earned runs, 29 hits and five homers in just 13 1-3 innings.

Pineiro is in the final season of a two-year, $16 million contract. He spent the first 25 games of the season on the disabled list because of shoulder stiffness.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia wasn’t present to see how well his
lineup changes worked in the series opener against the Minnesota Twins.

Judged on Scott Baker’s(notes) past woes in Anaheim, Scioscia may like what he sees
regardless of what he does to his lineup.

Baker is winless in seven career starts at Angel Stadium, although he’s been
pitching well lately for the Twins heading into Wednesday night’s contest.

Scioscia sat out Tuesday’s 5-1 victory to start this three-game set as he
served an automatic one-game suspension from Major League Baseball as a result
of ace Jered Weaver’s(notes) actions Sunday in Detroit.

With left-hander Brian Duensing(notes) starting Tuesday for Minnesota (50-59),
Scioscia moved designated hitter Bobby Abreu(notes) up to No. 2 in the lineup with
Torii Hunter(notes) dropping to third while RBI leader Mark Trumbo(notes) moved up one spot to
bat sixth.

“Against the lefties we might move Trumbo up and get him connected with the
other guys a little bit,” Scioscia told the Angels’ official website. “Against
righties, we’re going to flip-flop some things and try to find a little
continuity that way.”

Hunter and Trumbo both homered to support Ervin Santana’s(notes) eight-hitter as
Los Angeles (60-50) won its third straight at home and moved within one game of
AL West-leading Texas.

Trumbo’s 20th homer made him the sixth rookie in Angels history to reach
that figure and the first since Tim Salmon, who set a club record for rookies
with 31 in 1993.

The Angels should be confident against Baker (8-6, 2.86 ERA), who is 0-5
with a 6.10 ERA on the road against them. Baker, however, has thrown 14 straight
scoreless innings against Los Angeles, including seven in a 6-5 home loss May
27.

That’s the kind of form the Twins have seen over the last eight starts from
the veteran right-hander, who is 6-2 with a 1.64 ERA in that span. His
three-game win streak ended last Thursday as he allowed two runs over seven
innings in a 4-1 loss at Texas.

Baker was pulled after 97 pitches in his second start since returning from
the disabled list because of a right flexor strain.

“You’re at that threshold,” he said. “To throw any more, I don’t know if
that would have been beneficial. You know yourself well enough to know your
limits.”

Hunter, Abreu and Trumbo are a combined 4 for 26 with no homers against
Baker.

The Twins have also fared well against Joel Pineiro(notes) (5-5, 4.91), who will
start Wednesday for the Angels. Pineiro is 2-7 with a 4.42 ERA in 15 career
starts against the Twins, never winning a home start against them in seven
outings with three different teams (0-5, 5.15).

Joe Mauer(notes), hitting .371 over his last 24 games, is 14 for 20 with six
extra-base hits against Pineiro.

The Angels have won the last four home starts by Pineiro, who is 0-2 with a
15.00 ERA in his last three overall. He surrendered six runs over 3 1-3 innings
in Thursday’s 12-7 win at Detroit.

“I’ve got to get back to getting the ball down,” Pineiro said.