Baseball

Guerrero, Angels bruise Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas - AL MVP Vladimir Guerrero had two singles and scored three times before leaving with a bruised right knee, and the Los Angeles Angels went on to a 13-8 win over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.

Guerrero was hurt on a double steal in the third inning, when he slid into third base and then scampered home after a wild throw by catcher Rod Barajas for a 4-1 lead. He stayed in another inning, and got another at-bat, before leaving the game.

The Angels said Guerrero is day to day.

Anaheim has won four-of-five against the Rangers this season. The game Tuesday, a week after they played a season opener, was the first not decided by just one run.

Orlando Cabrera drove in three runs. Juan Rivera replaced Guerrero and had a two-run double when the Angels scored three times in the seventh.

John Lackey worked into the sixth inning, when he left with no outs, the bases loaded and a 9-3 lead. Brendan Donnelly got out of that jam with two strikeouts and a popup to the catcher.

Scot Shields got four outs for his first save, taking over with two men on after Esteban Yan had already allowed three runs in the eighth.

Chris Young allowed seven runs over 31/3 innings.

Cabrera had a two-run single, which scored Guerrero, and Garret Anderson had an RBI double in the first when Los Angeles took a 3-0 lead.

After another single in the third inning, Guerrero reached on a fielder's choice and scored one of the Angels' three runs in the fourth. He didn't return to right field in the bottom of the fourth.

Guerrero has a 23-game hitting streak against Texas, the longest active streak in the majors by a player against another team. He finished 2-for-3, upping his average to .313 with two home runs and six RBIs through eight games.

Last season, his first with the Angels, Guerrero hit .337 with 39 homers and 126 RBIs.

Rivera's two-run double came on the first pitch thrown by R.A. Dickey, who the day before allowed Cabrera's game-winning homer in the 10th inning on the first pitch he threw.

David Dellucci and Adrian Gonzalez hit solo homers for the Rangers, the latter from the rookie coming in the eighth inning. Hank Blalock was 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs.

Dellucci's second homer of the season came in the second, an inning before Michael Young had an RBI single and Mark Teixeira's run-scorer grounder that got Texas to 4-3.

Chone Figgins, who had been 0-for-17 this season against the Rangers, led off the fourth and fifth innings for Los Angeles with doubles, scoring both times.

TWINS 5, TIGERS 4: Shannon Stewart hit an RBI ground-rule double off Troy Percival with one out in the ninth inning, lifting host Minnesota.

It was the first earned run Percival allowed in 401/3 career innings against the Twins. Before Stewart's big hit, Percival was the only active major leaguer with at least 40 innings logged against one opponent with an ERA of zero.

Lew Ford singled to start the ninth and moved to second on a sacrifice by Michael Cuddyer. Pinch-hitter Nick Punto walked, bringing up Stewart.

Juan Rincon pitched a perfect eighth for the victory.

Rookie Jason Bartlett hit his first major-league homer and Cuddyer also went deep for Minnesota, which tied the game at 4-4 in the eighth against a shaky Ugueth Urbina.

Eleven of Urbina's first 15 pitches in the eighth were balls, and he paid for it.

[Last modified April 13, 2005, 01:31:06]