| Advertisement |
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- There's something about the Detroit Tigers' uniform that brings out the best in Matt Shoemaker. Shoemaker threw six scoreless innings, Luis Valbuena and Mike Trout homered, and the Los Angeles Angels cruised to a 7-0 victory over the Tigers on Friday night at Angel Stadium.
Advertisement
Shoemaker (2-2) gave up just three hits, struck out seven and walked one while making 94 pitches. He finished strong, retiring the last 10 batters he faced, improving to 3-1 with a 0.83 ERA in five career starts against his hometown team.
Shoemaker was born in Wyandotte, Michigan, went to high school in Trenton and college at Eastern Michigan University. He currently lives in Trenton. And every time he faces the Tigers, he still gets texts and phone calls from old friends.
"Every game's important, but something about playing against your home team is special," Shoemaker said. "Every game is special, you're playing in the big leagues, it's a blessing to be here, I thank God every day to be here, but playing against your hometown team is a little different.
"People at home who are diehard Tiger fans saying 'We're rooting for you today.' That's pretty cool."
The Tigers' only threat against Shoemaker came in the second inning when they loaded the bases with no outs. But Shoemaker got a strikeout, a forceout at the plate and a flyout to escape.
"Shoemaker's kind of stuck it to us since I"ve been here," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. "I don't think we've ever hit him, especially in this ballpark he's pitched extremely well against us and today was no different.
"His velocity was up early in the game, his split was good, split and slider combo. But the split was really the pitch that he goes to. And he's better against right-handed hitters and we're a predominantly right-handed hitting lineup. It's pretty simple and it's probably the reason he's had success against us in the past."
Valbuena homered in the second inning to give the Angels a 1-0 lead, and he singled in the fifth and seventh innings as part of the Angels' 14-hit attack. Cliff Pennington also had three hits for the Angels.
Tigers starter Jordan Zimmermann (3-2) was knocked around in 5 1/3 innings, giving up five runs (four earned), 10 hits and three walks.
"He gave up five runs, but you look at the way some of the runs were scored," Ausmus said. "You had a high chopper over the mound that scored a run, you had a blooper down the right-field line that scored a run, you had an infield single followed by a misplayed ball in right field that scored a run. Those are three of the five runs right there."
It was more than enough for Shoemaker and the Angels' bullpen. Blake Parker (seventh inning), David Hernandez (eighth) and Keynan Middleton (ninth) pitched the final three innings to complete the shutout, the Angels' second of the season. The first also was a combined effort.
"All in all he did a good job of executing," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said of Shoemaker. "At first he missed up, I think he was a little bit too strong. But he made some adjustments. He had a nice blend and kept them off balance.
"He used his fastball effectively and used all his pitches. When he has that good blend going and keeps guys off balance, that's when he's at his best. It comes down to execution."
Trout, in his second game back after missing five games with a sore left hamstring, was 0 for 4 before hitting a two-run homer in the eighth, his ninth of the season.
NOTES: Tigers OF J.D. Martinez was activated from the disabled list and was in the starting lineup. Martinez, out all season with a strained ligament in his right foot, went 1-for-3 with a single and two strikeouts. ... Tigers OF Jim Adduci was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a strained oblique muscle, suffered during batting practice on Thursday. Adduci had just started to get into a groove offensively, raising his season average to .318 with six hits in his past 17 at-bats over his last five games. ... Mike Trout started in center for the first time since May 5 because of a sore left hamstring. He initially hurt the hamstring running down a fly ball on May 3 in Seattle. ... Angels DH Albert Pujols has 144 RBIs going back to the start of the 2016, the most in the American League.
