Bayern Trupp » rare mid-season opportunity

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Yunel Escobar homered off Jered Weaver, and James Loney and Evan Longoria had RBI singles to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night. Chris Archer (3-2) allowed two hits over 5 2-3 innings and won for the first time in his last five starts, striking out five and walking five. The right-hander came in with a 6.97 ERA since his 16-1 victory over the Yankees on April 19 at St. Petersburg. Jake McGee, who has stranded all 13 baserunners hes inherited, started the seventh inning fresh after Juan Carlos Oviedo got the last out in the sixth. McGee gave up a single by Erick Aybar and a walk to Mike Trout, his third of the game. But Albert Pujols, who stranded six runners on the night, flied out to right field. Joel Peralta pitched a scoreless eighth and Grant Balfour pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save. Weaver (4-3) allowed two runs and three hits over seven innings with five strikeouts and three walks. The Angels ace was 4-0 with a 1.71 ERA in his previous five starts, including a 9-3 decision last Sunday in which he asked to be taken out of a game for the first time in his nine-year career because of a problem with his command -- after throwing 102 pitches in 6 1-3 innings and getting staked to a 7-1 lead. Archer matched zeroes with the three-time All-Star through the first four innings, and each team had one hit -- the Angels a two-out single by Pujols in the first, and the Rays a one-out single by Escobar in the third. Efren Navarros two-out single in the sixth was the only other hit Archer allowed. Escobar, who came in with four hits in eight career at-bats against Weaver, opened the scoring in the fifth when he drove an 0-2 pitch to left-centre for his third homer of the season. It was only the third allowed by Weaver in seven starts since April 6 at Houston when the Astros went deep four times against him in 7-4 win. Loney added a run-scoring single over the head of right fielder Collin Cowgill in the seventh for his team-leading 25th RBI, after Longoria drew a leadoff walk and got his first stolen base of the season -- matching his total in 160 games last year. The Rays tacked on another run in the eighth with two walks and Longorias RBI single against Michael Kohn, who had held opponents to just one unearned run in 17 1-3 innings over his previous 17 appearances. Archer retired his first two batters in the fifth before walking John McDonald, Erick Aybar and Trout -- whose walkoff three-run homer against Brad Boxberger in the ninth inning Thursday gave the Angels a 6-5 win. But Pujols grounded to third for a force on Aybar, making the two-time NL MVP 0 for 6 this season in bases-loaded situations and 3 for 22 since signing a 10-year, $240 million contract with the club in December 2011. NOTES: Weaver intentionally walked Escobar in the seventh, the right-handers first intentional pass since Sept. 4, 2009, at Kansas City (Mark Teahen). ... Tampa Bays last 12 shutout wins all have come on the road, including five this season. C Ryan Hanigan has caught 15 shutouts by the staff in 98 starts since catching Homer Baileys no-hitter with Cincinnati against Pittsburgh on Sept. 28, 2012. ... Angels rookie INF Luis Jimenez beat David Price in the Halos 40th annual cow-milking contest.... Tampa Bay 2B Cole Figueroa, who was promoted from Triple-A Durham on Thursday when 2B Ben Zobrist went on the DL, made his major league debut as a pinch-hitter in the eighth. He popped out to shortstop against Mike Morin. ... Angels OF Kole Calhoun (sprained right ankle) began a rehab assignment Friday night with Triple-A Salt Lake, and 3B David Freese is scheduled to join him Saturday. 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Wholesale NFL Jerseys . - Quarterback Brady Quinn says he has been released by the Miami Dolphins. Cheap NBA Jerseys .com) - Nate Buss 3-pointer with 5.TORONTO - With six weeks remaining before his teams likely return to the playoffs, Dwane Casey is hoping to manufacture some late-season rest for the Raptors two leading scorers. Although DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry have shown no sign of wearing down, each logging more playing time than they have previously in their careers, Casey would like to keep them as fresh as possible for the stretch run, something that may be easier said than done. Sitting 9 1/2 games ahead of ninth-place Detroit in the Eastern Conference standings, Toronto - the Easts third seed - is poised to make its first postseason appearance in six years. With that comes another rarity for the franchise, playing meaningful games in March and April. The challenge for Casey and the Raptors coaching staff will be in managing the rotation, loosening it enough to give the guards a breathier - together or separately - without sacrificing important games. "Thats the hard thing," Casey acknowledged following Wednesdays practice. "Weve got to buy them a few minutes here and there but every possession - not only every game, every quarter [but] every possession - is meaningful." "When you start looking at scoring, we hit a drought the other night against Golden State right before the fourth quarter but we were just trying to buy minutes for those guys off the floor. Its a catch-22." DeRozan is fourth in the league, averaging just over 38 minutes per game, behind only Carmelo Anthony, James Harden and Kevin Durant while Lowry is 14th, logging roughly 36 a night. Amongst NBA duos, only Houstons pair of Harden and Chandler Parsons as well as Golden States Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson play more. In February, DeRozan played over 40 minutes a night, with Lowry nearly hitting 38. Since the early-December trade, Casey has been rolling out a strict nine-man rotation, using primarily Greivis Vasquez and John Salmons to spell Lowry, DeRozan and Terrence Ross. Getting reliable contribution from his reserves and piecing together the right combinations will bee essential for the Raptors coach to expand the rotation enough to buy his backcourt duo more downtime on the bench.dddddddddddd One player hed like to see more of, who could help in taking the burden off Lowry and DeRozan, is newcomer Nando De Colo. The versatile guard has played just eight minutes since being acquired from the Spurs in a deadline day trade two weeks ago. Although Casey has had trouble pinpointing where exactly De Colo fits in his lineup, he anticipates using the 26-year-old as a secondary ball handler, likely at the two or three position. "Weve got to make sure we have the right combinations on the court, that way we dont sacrifice scoring, but he knows how to play, he has a feel for the game," Casey said of De Colo. "You cant really put your finger on his position or what he is, a two, a three or a point [guard], but hes a basketball player. He just knows how to play." The Raptors got back to work Wednesday after taking a couple days off to satisfy a league mandate. "I thought we had decent focus," Casey said, "the usual first day back to school-type start, but I thought once guys got into it we ramped the intensity a little bit. "There was no resistance as far as the drills were concerned whatsoever, so I could sense they were anxious to get back. As a coach you dont want to lose that rhythm, thats the biggest fear. I didnt sense any of that today." While Jonas Valanciunas used the time off to get away from the game, spending the day ice fishing on Lake Simcoe (he returned home empty handed, without a fish), Terrence Ross took advantage of a rare mid-season opportunity for rest. Ross has been nursing a sprained left ankle, keeping him out of Sundays win over Golden State, but was able to practice in full Wednesday. "It happened at the best time," said Ross, who expects to be in uniform when the Raptors host Sacramento on Friday. "I got a few days off to stay off it and rest. Im feeling back to normal. Ive still got to do treatment on it but right now it feels good." ' ' '