Nick Adenhart will have something to take back to Salt Lake with him -- his first major league victory.
Starting for the third time since being promoted from Class AAA Salt Lake, the 21-year-old rookie couldn't avoid the kind of rough patches that doomed him in his first two starts. But the Angels' offense covered for him and Adenhart's career-high 5 2/3-inning outing was good enough to earn him his first victory.
Adenhart lasted two-plus innings in his first start, a 15-8 loss to the Oakland A's. He made it into the fifth inning in his second start (against the Royals) and even had the lead when he left the game. But he didn't make it through the required five to earn the victory.
The White Sox roughed up Adenhart for three runs on four hits and a walk in the second inning Monday but the youngster stabilized after that, allowing four hits in the fourth but just one more run. The Angels battered lefty Mark Buehrle and the White Sox bullpen for 14 hits in the 10-7 victory.
Adenhart is expected to be sent back to Class AAA Salt Lake in order to make room in the rotation for righty John Lackey. Last year's 19-game winner has been on the disabled list with a strained triceps suffered during spring training. Lackey is scheduled to make his first start of the season for the Angels on Wednesday against the White Sox.
Adenhart took his lumps during his brief big-league baptism, allowing 12 earned runs on 18 hits and 13 walks in 12 innings. Adenhart was 4-0 with a 0.87 ERA in five Class AAA starts before being promoted to replace righty Dustin Moseley in the Angels' rotation as a bridge to Lackey's return.
ANGELS 10, WHITE SOX 7: Held scoreless for 20 innings over the weekend in Tampa Bay, the Angels' offense has come back to life with 15 runs in the next 15 innings, including 10 in Monday's victory over the White Sox. The victory snapped a season-high four-game losing streak.
Rookie righty Nick Adenhart made it through 5 2/3 innings to earn his first major league victory. But more important for the Angels were the continued signs that Vladimir Guerrero is breaking out of his poor start to the season. Guerrero drove in four runs with a three-run home run (his first home run since April 25) and an RBI single. Guerrero had a total of four RBIs in the Angels' previous 25 games.
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The Angels come back from their All Star Break to take on the Red Sox for a 3-game series at Angel Stadium. The scheduled pitching matchups are Lackey vs. Buckholtz, Garland vs. Beckett, and Weaver vs. Wakefield. Our matchup's favor game 1 and 3, but ga