Brewers try to make it two in a row in Anaheim

Baseball Betting Lines

06/15/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After completing an incredibly successful road trip, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim had all kinds of troubles in Monday's return to their home stadium. The defending American League West champions will be vying for better results when they take the field for tonight's middle matchup of a three-game interleague series with the Milwaukee Brewers from Angel Stadium.

The Brewers cooled off the red-hot Angels with an impressive offensive display in last night's opener of this set, with Ryan Braun knocking in five runs to lead the way in a 12-2 rout.

Braun belted a grand slam to cap a five-run third inning and added an RBI single in the seventh, when Milwaukee also scored five times. Corey Hart had a two-run double as part of a 3-for-5 night, while both Alcides Escobar and George Kottaras delivered two hits and an RBI to help the Brewers halt a two- game slide.

Milwaukee also received solid pitching as well, with starter Randy Wolf (5-6) holding the Angels to two runs and three hits over the first seven innings. The veteran left-hander retired the final 13 batters he faced.

"I attacked the glove tonight," Wolf said afterward. "No matter what the score is, you don't want to change anything. I had good command and my curveball was good tonight. When you get a big lead it allows me to be more aggressive."

Joe Saunders (5-7) wasn't nearly as effective for Anaheim, surrendering six run on six hits and giving up homers to Braun and Casey McGehee in his 5 2/3- inning stint.

"He got through the first couple of innings okay, then his command caught up with him and he had trouble putting hitters away," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said of Saunders. "We just played a poor ball game. [The Brewers] blew it open and we couldn't get our bats going."

The Angels mustered only four hits for the game, with Kevin Frandsen's two-run double in the second inning accounting for the club's only scoring.

The loss was only the third in the last 13 outings for Anaheim, which went an outstanding 11-3 on a 14-game, four-city trip and ended the trek with three straight victories over the rival Dodgers over the weekend.

The Angels will attempt to bounce back tonight, but likely won't have the services of shortstop and leadoff hitter Erick Aybar in the rematch. The switch-hitting sparkplug left yesterday's contest in the seventh inning after sustaining a hyperextended left knee from a collision with a sliding McGehee at the second base bag.

Aybar has been one of the Angels' hottest hitters during the team's recent strong stretch, having posted a .382 average in 13 June games.

Ervin Santana, who takes the mound tonight for Anaheim, had also been on a nice roll as well before encountering trouble in his last start. The hard- throwing right-hander had a string of five straight winning efforts end Thursday in Oakland, where he was reached for five runs (four earned) in just five innings during the Angels' 6-1 defeat.

Santana had recorded a stellar 1.80 earned run average over his five-start win streak and yielded only one run in three of those assignments. For the season, the 2008 AL All-Star has gone 6-4 with a respectable 3.52 ERA in 13 appearances.

The 27-year-old is 2-1 with a 4.28 ERA in five home starts this year and will be meeting the Brewers for the first time in his career.

Dave Bush will oppose Santana this evening and will be trying to put a long personal winless drought to an end. Since besting Pittsburgh on April 20 for his lone triumph of the season, the right-hander has lost five straight decisions and pitched to a lackluster 6.15 ERA in 10 games, nine of which were starts.

Bush is coming off a no-decision against Chicago last Thursday in which he allowed four runs -- two of which came on a homer by the Cubs' Xavier Nady -- in six innings. The long ball has been a problem area for the 30-year-old throughout this season, as he's served up 10 homers in 64 innings of work.

Having began his career in Toronto, Bush has faced the Angels twice previously and gone 0-1 with a 3.21 ERA over a combined 14 innings. He hasn't pitched against Anaheim since the 2005 campaign, however.

Milwaukee took two of three games from the Angels during its last visit to Anaheim, which took place during the 2004 season.