Major League Baseball

Angels 8, Indians 5

Published Mar. 27, 2009 2:35 a.m. ET

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Torii Hunter and the Los Angeles Angels put on an impressive power display Thursday. Hunter hit two of the team's four home runs in an 8-5 victory over the Cleveland Indians, showing no ill effects of being hit in the cheekbone by a fly ball that ricocheted off the outfield wall Wednesday. Hunter snapped a 4-for-24 slump by going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Bobby Abreu, Vladimir Guerrero and Hunter hit consecutive home runs in an eight-pitch span in the third inning off Scott Lewis. It was the first spring training homer for each player in the middle of an Angels lineup that is tearing up the Cactus League. In their last five games, the Angels have 19 homers, 77 hits and 64 runs. Travis Hafner had two of Cleveland's six hits and scored twice. Indians manager Eric Wedge said he wasn't upset with Lewis' performance, which came two days after the left-hander was picked to be the team's No. 4 starter. "He didn't have a feel for the baseball today and he left some pitches up," Wedge said after Lewis gave up eight hits and five runs over three innings. "The way he's been pitching, he was due for one of these days. He's had an outstanding camp." Hunter's second homer, in the seventh off Edward Mujica, came after the eight-time Gold Glove winner lost one ball in the sun and had another bounce off his glove for an error during Cleveland's two-run sixth. "If you're going to drop one, now is the time to get all the flaws out of the way," Hunter said. "The big thing is you can see what Bobby means to our lineup. We lost Tex (Mark Teixeira), but Bobby brings so much to a team. He has so much athletic ability and is such a patient hitter. "He takes pitches and that starts putting pressure on a pitcher. Then Vlad, me, and everybody on down the line gets a better look, too. It's a snowball thing." Angels starter Nick Adenhart allowed five hits and one earned run over six innings. "The best thing I did was not let a couple innings get away," Adenhart said after yielding three unearned runs. Angels manager Mike Scioscia was impressed, but wouldn't go as far as to say Adenhart has nailed down a rotation spot. "Nick got out of sync for a couple hitters, then found it and kept it there for a long time," Scioscia said. "The tempo of his delivery is so important to him." Scioscia said the 22-year-old is trying to maintain a consistent release point and delivery. "Slow is OK, but he sometimes gets too slow, then rushes to speed it up," Scioscia said. "If he keeps his tempo, we know he's got a good arm." Shin-Soo Choo went 0-for-3 and scored twice as the starter in right field for Cleveland. He played only two games in the field and was used mostly as a designated hitter while helping South Korea to the World Baseball Classic finals. Choo looked tentative on a fly ball that fell for a single in front of him and behind second baseman Jamey Carroll. Choo went back well to catch a fly ball later in the inning. Notes: The Angels (21-4-1) matched their spring training record for wins set in 1996 and again in 2005 with nine games to play. ... Indians trainers checked on RHP Rafael Betancourt in the fourth after an awkward pickoff throw to first following a walk. The reliever stayed in and finished a hitless inning with two strikeouts. ... Angels LHP Brian Fuentes and RHP Jason Bulger each worked one hitless inning. ... RHP Masa Kobayashi fanned four over two perfect innings for Cleveland, lowering his ERA to 9.00. ... Cleveland reassigned veteran INF Andy Cannizaro to minor league camp and claimed RHP Jae Kuk Ryu off waivers from San Diego and assigned him to Triple-A Columbus.

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