ANAHEIM, Calif. — Eric Young Jr. made his first home run of the season timely, the solo shot in the eighth inning providing the Los Angeles Angels with a 2-1 victory Wednesday night and a series win over the Atlanta Braves.
The Angels' Albert Pujols remained at 599 career home runs, collecting one single in four at-bats.
The Braves opened the scoring in the second inning when Matt Kemp drilled a solo home run. For Kemp it was No. 10 on the season and No. 250 for his career. It was also his 40th hit in May.
It remained a 1-0 game into the bottom of the seventh, the Angels tying the game with an odd offensive inning. After two infield singles, the Angels had runners on first and second when Shane Robinson hit a chopper to third baseman Rio Ruiz.
Ruiz stepped on the bag for the force just ahead of hard slide by Martin Maldonado, who clipped the feet of Ruiz. That delayed his throw to first enough that he had to hurry it, throwing it past first baseman Jace Peterson for an error that allowed Danny Espinosa to score from first to tie it.
Both starting pitchers performed well but were not involved in the decision.
Jaime Garcia went seven innings for the Braves, allowing one unearned run, five hits and three walks. He has allowed only one earned run in the 21 2/3 innings of his last three starts.
Jesse Chavez went seven innings for the Angels, giving up the one run, five hits and a walk, striking out four.
Young, only called up Monday to take the place of the injured Mike Trout, hit his home run off reliever Arodys Vizcaino (1-1). Vizcaino had made 12 consecutive scoreless appearances until giving up the homer to Young.
Blake Parker (1-2) picked up the victory with one inning of work, while Bud Norris got the final two outs for his 10th save.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Braves: 1B Matt Adams was out of Wednesday's lineup a sore left knee. Manager Brian Snitker said it happened sometime during Tuesday's game and Adams woke Wednesday with the knee soreness. He is only expected to miss one game. . 2B Brandon Phillips returned to the lineup after missing two games with a bruised right knee.
Angels: Trout was deemed to have had successful left thumb surgery to repair his ulnar collateral ligament and dorsal capsule. Still estimating he'll be out 6-to-8 weeks. . OF Cameron Maybin was out of the lineup for a second consecutive night with tightness in his side.
UP NEXT
Braves: After a day off, RHP Mike Foltynewicz is scheduled to start Friday in Cincinnati. Foltynewicz has had an uneven season for the Braves, going 3-2 in his last five starts despite a 6.12 ERA.
Angels: RHP Alex Meyer is expected to be activated off the 10-day DL to start the opener of a four-game series against the Twins. Meyer is 2-2 with a 5.79 ERA in five starts. He has been on the DL since May 21 with back spasms.
