Major League Baseball

Abreu's two blasts lift Halos over O's

Published Jul. 3, 2009 8:49 a.m. ET

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John Lackey looks to be back in top pitching shape.

Lackey pitched eight solid innings and Bobby Abreu provided the offense with two home runs as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 on Thursday night.

The right-hander, who had a loss and a no-decision in his last two starts, got the run support he needed this time from Abreu's 14th career multihomer game and his first as an Angel.


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He struck out seven and gave up four hits and a walk against the Orioles, who are in last place in the AL East.

The ace breezed through Baltimore's lineup, except for a jam in the fifth, showing the form when he won 19 games in 2007.

"This is the best stuff we've seen him have in a couple of years. This rivals anything we've seen with John," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

"When his fastball command is there, he can quietly roll through a lineup. ... His arm felt good, his delivery felt good and he was throwing to spots easy with a lot of life on his fastball tonight."

A fastball he utilized early.

"I was able to get through the first inning without throwing anything but a fastball so that kind of establishes that and gets you rolling a little bit," said Lackey, who missed the first six weeks of the season with a right forearm strain.

He gave up one single through the first four innings before getting into trouble in the fifth. Rookie Matt Wieters tied the game at 1 with an RBI single, but Lackey struck out Robert Andino and Brian Roberts with two runners on.

"He was putting it where he wanted it," catcher Mike Napoli said. "To me, it looked like the John of last year when he was going good. He was getting through a lot of innings. It looks like things are coming around now."

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