Arizona Diamondbacks Take Game One Against The Angels 5-0, Trevor Cahill Looks Sharp

Interleague play continued for the Arizona Diamondbacks as they traveled to southern California to take on the Los Angeles (or Anaheim, if you prefer) Angels. The D-backs managed to escape Arlington with one win in a three-game series against the Rangers. They won the game 11-3 and the team was hoping to bring their hot bats with them to L.A. They did just that, taking the series opener by a score of 5-0.

Former Diamondback Dan Haren led the charge for the Angels against his former team. Entering the game, Haren held a 4-6 record and a 3.76 ERA. He allowed one run to the D-backs in the first inning to Jason Kubel, but after that, he was rock solid through five innings.

Then the sixth inning rolled around and the Diamondbacks to blew the game wide open. It all started with a double by Jason Kubel. After Justin Upton struck out, Miguel Montero came to the plate and was promptly walked intentionally by his old pitcher. Aaron Hill took exception to that by blasting a 3-run homer to center, making it a 4-0 lead for the Diamondbacks. Later that inning, Ryan Roberts hit an RBI double to send Lyle Overbay across the plate to make it 5-0. Haren was pulled after the sixth inning.

The same story cannot be told for his opponent, Trevor Cahill. He had a sinker ball for the ages for the Angels, whom he had started against ten times previously while pitching for the Athletics. Cahill threw a shutout through 7 innings, surrendering just three hits, all coming on two outs with the base pads empty. He also had a career high in strikeouts, sending 8 players walking back to the bench. Both Brad Ziegler and David Hernandez cleaned up the rest of the game, keeping it a shutout.

Albert Pujols, Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo, three of the Angels' best batters, were held hitless against Cahill. This was by far Cahill's best outing as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He has now lowered his ERA to 3.08 and is 5-5.

The only bad news for the Diamondbacks was Lyle Overbay being replaced by Paul Goldschmidt in the 7th inning after hurting himself hitting second base on a double. No news has been released as of yet regarding the status of Overbay.

With the win, the Diamondbacks have climbed their way back to .500, still 8 games out of first place in the NL West. On the mound tomorrow is Joe Saunders (4-4, 3.48 ERA) against Ervin Santana (3-7, 5.74 ERA). The first pitch will be thrown by the Angels at 7:05 MST.

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