The only disappointment for the Angels on Tuesday night was that they couldn't reward Jered Weaver's brilliant seven-inning, one-hit, six-strikeout effort with a win.
Otherwise, there were no complaints after the Angels scratched out a pair of runs in the eighth inning for a 2-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox, rebounding from a four-game losing streak with their second win in a row.
Mike Napoli and Robb Quinlan drove in runs, Scot Shields threw a scoreless eighth to gain the win, and Francisco Rodriguez, after giving up a one-out double to Carlos Quentin in the ninth, retired Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye for his major league-leading 16th save.
But the star in Angel Stadium was Weaver, who followed one of the worst starts of his career -- he was rocked for eight runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings in Kansas City last Wednesday -- with one of his best, which kept the Angels on even terms with Chicago left-hander John Danks, who threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings.
"That was the best stuff Jered has had in two years," Manager Mike Scioscia said. "His pitch count (109) was a little high . . . but you can't pitch any better than he did."
Had the Angels scored after loading the bases with one out in the seventh, Weaver would have emerged with a win, but White Sox reliever Octavio Dotel struck out Erick Aybar and Vladimir Guerrero to snuff out the rally.
Torii Hunter then opened the eighth with a single off Dotel, and Chicago Manager Ozzie Guillen summoned left-hander Matt Thornton to face Garret Anderson, who was hitting .226 against lefties. Thornton threw three straight balls, and Scioscia gave Anderson a green light on 3 and 0.
Anderson laced a single to right field that Dye dived for but couldn't catch, advancing Hunter to third. Napoli followed with a sacrifice fly to center for a 1-0 lead, and Anderson alertly tagged and took second on Nick Swisher's throw home.
Quinlan then hit a two-out, run-scoring single to right, the Angels' first hit in 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position, to make it 2-0.
"It looked like Garret was seeing the ball well -- he laid off some good pitches," Scioscia said. "He can square up a fastball, and with the hole on the right side, I liked our chances. He hit a bullet, and that set up the rest of the inning."
Much like Anderson, who credited a swing adjustment with his recent surge -- he's batting .452 (14 for 31) with three homers in his last nine games -- Weaver said some mechanical adjustments he made between starts led to Tuesday's turnaround.
