Angels rally, force extra innings
Williams, pitching on short rest, struggles again, but his team scores four in ninth to get him off the hook.
The overarching question for the Angels on Saturday night was whether starting pitcher Jerome Williams could rebound from an ugly outing on only two days’ rest. The answer: Not really. Three days after allowing seven runs in a loss to St. Louis, Williams recorded only nine outs against the Boston Red Sox at Angel Stadium.
Williams was in line to take the loss until the Angels rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score, 7-7, and send the game to extra innings.
Williams — who started again so soon because he threw only 55 pitches Wednesday — gave up two runs in the first two innings.
Then he was chased in the fourth, when Boston scored three more runs before the Angels could get an out.
Williams threw 61 pitches as his earned-run average climbed to 4.16.
After winning seven consecutive games, the Angels were in danger of losing for the third time in four games.
Mike Trout and Howie Kendrick tried to help Williams with solo home runs off Red Sox starter Ryan Dempster.
Kendrick’s homer came in the second inning, his 11th of the season, and Trout’s blast into the leftfield stands came in the third inning, his 14th. Chris Iannetta also had a run-scoring single.
In the ninth inning, Albert Pujols’ two-run single and Josh Hamilton’s RBI hit got the Angels close. Kendrick then hit a grounder to third baseman Brandon Snyder, but his throw to second, for what would’ve been a game-ending force out, was wild, and pinch-runner Collin Cowgill scored the tying run. Trout again an All-Star
Trout again made the AL AllStar team, as he did last season in his rookie year, but this time he’ll be starting the game.
Trout, 21, would be the first Angels position player to start the AllStar game since Vladimir Guerrero in 2007.
“It’s pretty cool to start,” said Trout, which finished second in the voting for AL outfielders behind Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles. “I’m just going to go out there and have some fun.”
Trout, the only Angel to make the All-Star team, came into Saturday batting .314 with 108 hits.
“Mike has accomplished a lot in the first half of the season, especially coming off what he did last season,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “There’s no doubt he’s an AllStar; he’ll be an All-Star for years to come.”
The All-Star game at New York’s Citi Field is July 16. An ‘incredible gesture’
Jered Weaver and his wife Kristin named their first child Aden David Weaver in honor of the late Nick Adenhart, Weaver’s former teammate.
A promising pitcher, Adenhart, 22, and two friends were killed in 2009 when their car was struck by a drunk driver in Fullerton.
Adenhart “was somebody that was pretty important to me and pretty important to a lot of people, so I think it was a cool thing ” to name his son after him, said Weaver, who’s scheduled to start Sunday’s game against Boston. james.peltz@latimes.com Times staff writer Lance Pugmire contributed to this report.