ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Jered Weaver has never been shy about showing his emotions. As he got out of an eighth-inning jam Monday night in the series opener against the visiting Yankees, those emotions were on full display.
"I got pretty hyped," Weaver said.
The Angels' ace induced an inning-ending double play that proved to be the spark for the Angels in their 4-1 win.
New York had three hits against Weaver in the first seven innings. It began the eighth with three straight singles against him to load the bases with no outs.
At that point, the fireworks were just beginning.
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Leadoff hitter Brett Gardner stepped to the plate. In the middle of his at-bat, Yankees manager Joe Girardi, arguing balls and strikes from the dugout, was tossed from the game by home plate umpire Laz Diaz. Girardi stormed out of the dugout to, at least, get his money's worth in a charade that was well pleasing to the 39,701 fans in attendance -- many of whom were Yankees fans.
Girardi's tirade didn't take Weaver off of his game. He proceeded to strike out Gardner for the first out of the inning.
The next batter was Yankees captain Derek Jeter. Swinging at the first pitch, he grounded into an inning-ending double play. And Weaver was jacked, high-fiving catcher Chris Iannetta and barking out his excitement using words that can't be repeated in this text.
"I showed a little emotion there, obviously, getting out of a big jam," said Weaver who had a season-high seven strikeouts in a season-high eight innings. "It was, obviously, a tough spot to be in."
The Angels then rode that excitement to the tune of six walks in the bottom of the inning. It was an eighth that saw the Angels send nine men to the plate. One of the six walks was an intentional pass to Albert Pujols. Five of the walks, including all three with the bases loaded, came with two outs.
The Angels scored three runs in the inning without recording one hit.
It was the first time the club drew six walks in one inning since 1984.
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"Everybody in our lineup's got great plate discipline and really good approaches at the dish so it's not shocking that we put together some good at-bats," said Collin Cowgill, who led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a walk.
It all goes back to Weaver escaping the jam in the top half of the inning. It ended up being a huge momentum boost.
"Not just for us," Cowgill explained. "It's a letdown for the other side, no matter who it is. If you have bases loaded, one out with a Hall of Famer up and you get him to ground into a double play, that's huge. That's a huge swing.
"You can see the emotion when (Weaver's) coming off the field, that stuff's contagious. He's going nuts and so is the dugout. We're running off the field going nuts and it just so happens the next inning was a big inning for us, so all that stuff is very relevant."
