CRON HOMERS TWICE FOR 2^ND STRAIGHT GAME

Pujols Goes Deep Twice; Halos Belt 6 Long Balls

MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 7 (AP) – C.J. Cron became the first player in the major leagues this year with consecutive multi-home run games and the Angels went deep six times in all as they completed a three-game seep of the Minnesota Twins with an 8-2 victory at Target Field.  Cron homered twice and drove in three in yesterday’s Angels 8-5 win and repeated the feat this afternoon, giving him four long balls and six runs batted in over the past two days.  The six home runs hit by the Angels marks only the seventh time this season a team has hit more than five home runs in a single contest.

The Twins broke on top in the bottom of the first when Eduardo Nunez doubled with one out and scored on Kendrys Morales’ base hit.

Chris Ianetta’s solo homer in the top of the second-- the first of five allowed by Minnesota starter Logan Darnell, matching a big league season high—knotted the game at one and Los Angeles took the lead for good in the second.  Erik Aybar led off with a single and was forced at second by Mike Trout, but Albert Pujols cracked his 25^th home run of the season, giving the Angels a 3-1 advantage.

Cron cracked his first long ball of the contest in the top of the fourth to make the score 4-1, but Trevor Plouffe pulled Minnesota back to within two runs with a home run off Angels starter C.J. Wilson in the bottom of the frame.

Any hopes the Twins might have had of getting back in the game were dashed in the top of the fifth.  Aybar led off with his fifth home run of the season to increase the lead to three runs and, after Trout fanned, Pujols belted his second homer of the game to make it 6-2.  The Angels padded the lead in the sixth with two more runs.  After Gary Green led off with a base hit, Cron lined an A.J. Achter pitch into the lower seats just inside the left field foul pole, putting Los Angeles on top 8-2.  That was the end of the scoring.

The seven home runs the teams combined to hit is just one off the major league season high, accomplished three times, most recently on August 20 when the Royals and Rockies hit eight long balls in a game at Coors Field in Denver.

The win by the Angels pulls them within 3 ½ games of the Oakland A’s for first place in the AL West.  The loss drops the Twins 2 ½ games behind division leader Kansas City in the hyper-competitive AL Central.

9/7/2014, LAA14-Min14, Target Field

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP

2014 Angels            0  1  2  1  2  2  0  0  0     8 11  0     3  2

2014 Twins             1  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0     2  8  1     6  1

Angels               AB  R  H BI   AVG    Twins                AB  R  H BI   AVG

Aybar             ss  4  1  3  1  .284    Dozier            2b  4  0  1  0  .250

 Beckham          3b  1  0  0  0  .215    Nunez             lf  4  1  1  0  .244

 Jimenez,L        3b  0  0  0  0  .222    Mauer             dh  4  0  1  0  .275

Trout             cf  3  1  0  0  .313    Vargas,K          1b  4  0  1  1  .290

 Campana          cf  1  0  0  0  .159    Plouffe           3b  3  1  1  1  .284

Pujols            dh  4  2  2  3  .272    Pinto             c   4  0  1  0  .273

Kendrick,H        2b  4  0  1  0  .298    Parmelee          rf  4  0  0  0  .225

Freese            3b  4  0  0  0  .223    Escobar,Edu       ss  3  0  2  0  .292

 McDonald         ss  0  0  0  0  .215     Bernier          ss  0  0  0  0  .000

Iannetta          c   4  1  1  1  .238     Arcia            ph  1  0  0  0  .218

 Buck             c   0  0  0  0  .209    Hicks,A           cf  2  0  0  0  .227

Green             lf  4  1  2  0  .307                         33  2  8  2

 Navarro,E        1b  0  0  0  0  .300

Cron              1b  4  2  2  3  .282

 O'Malley         lf  0  0  0  0  .000

Cowgill           rf  3  0  0  0  .194

 Calhoun          ph  1  0  0  0  .241

                     37  8 11  8

Angels                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Wilson,C         W 11-7          6.0  7  2  2  2  5  87  50  4.33

Pestano          H 5             1.0  1  0  0  0  0  14   8  4.85

Bedrosian                        1.0  0  0  0  0  1  15   8  5.29

Salas                            1.0  0  0  0  0  1  18  13  2.02

                                 9.0  8  2  2  2  7 134  79

Twins                            INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Darnell          L 0-2           4.1  6  6  6  1  5  78  51 11.74

Achter                           1.2  4  2  2  0  0  26  18  7.20

Oliveros                         1.0  0  0  0  0  1   9   6  6.00

Pressly                          1.0  1  0  0  0  2  12   8  3.00

Burton                           1.0  0  0  0  0  1  11   8  2.14

                                 9.0 11  8  8  1  9 136  91

LAA: Beckham inserted at 3b in the 7th

     Campana inserted at cf in the 7th

     McDonald inserted at ss in the 7th

     Buck inserted at c in the 8th

     Navarro,E inserted at 1b in the 8th

     O'Malley inserted at lf in the 8th

     Calhoun batted for Cowgill in the 9th

     Jimenez,L inserted at 3b in the 9th

     Calhoun moved to rf in the 9th

Min: Bernier inserted at ss in the 8th

     Arcia batted for Bernier in the 9th

E-Darnell. 2B-Kendrick,H(35), Nunez(6). HR-Aybar(5), Pujols 2(26),

Iannetta(5), Cron 2(15), Plouffe(9). RBI-Aybar(36), Pujols 3(92),

Iannetta(27), Cron 3(38), Vargas,K(24), Plouffe(63). CS-Green. K-Trout,

Kendrick,H, Freese 2, Iannetta 2, Green, Cron, Campana, Nunez, Mauer,

Plouffe, Pinto, Parmelee, Escobar,Edu, Hicks,A. BB-Trout, Plouffe, Hicks,A.

GWRBI: Pujols

Temperature: 83, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 9 MPH.

Attendance: 39,243

Game Time: 2:47