Los Angeles Angels hope to continue success vs. Reds

The Los Angeles Angels, who have just won back to back series against playoff contending teams in the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers, now take on the lowly Cincinnati Reds in a three game series at the Big A.

Los Angeles Angels Matt Shoemaker will look for his third straight win tonight while the Reds’ Dan Straily will look to continue his impressive run of quality starts. Shoemaker has been a bright spot and fan-favorite ever since his return from the Salt Lake Bees. Straily, 6-0 in his last eight starts, is looking to hold the Angels to as few runs as possible today, something he has never been able to do, as he holds a 6.69 ERA in seven career starts against the Halos. Both pitchers are coming off strong outings, as they each threw six shutout innings is their most recent start.

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Jered Weaver, also coming off an exceptional start in which he held the Blue Jays to two runs-one earned-over 5 2/3 innings his last time out, gets the nod for the Halos on Tuesday night. It has been an up-and-down season for Weaver, but he has been performing well enough for Angel fans to around 3-5 runs each night, usually no more or less. The Reds counter Weaver with Tim Adleman, who is 2-1 with a 3.68 ERA. In his last start, against the Rangers, Adleman was inconsistent with his command. With one strike left to end the fifth inning with the lead, he gave up back to back homeruns to Yu Darvish(his first career long ball) and Ian Desmond. He ended up with the no-decision in the loss. Of the three Reds’ batters that have faced Weaver in their careers, none have hits against him, although none of them have more than three at-bats.

Ricky Nolasco will start for the Angels against Brandon Finnegan in the rubber match of the series. There has not been many pros to Nolasco’s time with the Angels so far, as he has yet to win a start and owns a 15.43 ERA since the All-Star game. Finnegan is a different story however. He has been absolutely dominant over his last two starts, only allowing opponents 4 hits in 43 at-bats over 13 innings(0.93 batting average). There is a good chance that he struggles tonight against the Angels’ right-handed heavy lineup, most likely when he is pitching through the lineup for the second time, after the Halos figure him out.

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This should be a series the Angels could easily win or even sweep, but as Angel fans have come to learn this year- always expect the worst, that way you can’t be let down when the team under-performs.

Next: Johnny G. still in fold, Nava is not

Hopefully this time will be different.