Angels manager Mike Scioscia might want to impose a new team curfew – no one in their room before 3:30 a.m.
Just hours after breaking the Boston Red Sox’s hold over them with a late-night, 13-inning victory, the Angels did the same with former teammate John Lackey, pounding him for eight runs on 10 hits in four-plus innings on their way to an 11-0 victory at Fenway Park on Thursday afternoon.
After losing 15 of 16 games against the Red Sox over the previous 13 months, the Angels packed two victories into less than 14 hours. They finished the second half of their unplanned night-day doubleheader with 18 hits, including at least one from every starter in the lineup.
Erick Aybar had four hits, Howie Kendrick and Peter Bourjos three apiece. Bobby Abreu (the late-night hero) had three more RBIs on a single and a double. Bourjos scored four runs.
The 11 runs were the most by the Angels at Fenway Park since they scored 13 on June 4, 2005. The margin of victory was the largest in franchise history in a shutout victory over the Red Sox.
“Maybe that’s the key – no sleep. Play in a trance,” Kendrick said.
“That was a lot of fun,” Angels outfielder Torii Hunter said. “Well, it wasn’t a lot of fun (playing until 2:45 a.m. EDT). But there was no thinking, no jittery-ness. We were all numb, had foggy heads.
“Maybe that’s what we need to do – stay up until 3 in the morning or something playing dominoes. Then come out – see ball, hit ball.”
The Angels might have had better luck with dominoes in their first four matchups against their former ace.
Lackey came into Thursday’s game 4-0 with a 2.35 ERA in his first four starts against them since leaving the Angels as a free agent following the 2009 season. That included eight shutout innings in Anaheim two weeks ago, a rare bright spot this season for Lackey (2-4 with a 7.16 ERA) who was booed roundly by the fans at Fenway during Thursday’s game.
“You don’t want to hear that. He was one of my teammates,” Hunter said of the booing. “It’s a game and we’re competitors. But he’s a former teammate and a friend. You don’t to see that for one of your buddies.”
With friends like that, who needs enemies?
The Angels’ damage against Lackey included five consecutive hits in the fourth inning when the Angels were on their first-to-third merry-go-round like it was 2009 and a two-run home run by Mark Trumbo in the fifth that ended Lackey’s day.
“The situation today, they needed him to go deep in the game and in order to get deep in the game you have to throw strikes and try to get some quick outs,” Angels outfielder Vernon Wells said. “He was in the (strike) zone. He was coming right at us. It just happened to be a good matchup for us.
“We went in with the approach knowing he was going to have to throw strikes and try to stay out there for a long time.”
– Reporting from Boston
