ARLINGTON, Texas — Scott Kazmir pitched six scoreless innings to get his first victory for the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels, and Vladimir Guerrero homered in a 2-0 victory Friday night over the slumping Texas Rangers, who dropped a season-high 7 1/2 games back in the division.
Kazmir lowered his ERA to 1.42 in four starts since being acquired Aug. 28 from the Tampa Bay Rays, but had gotten little run support (four runs) while going 0-1 his first three starts. The left-hander didn’t need much help against the Rangers, who were shut out for the fourth time in a five-game losing streak and have scored only once in 46 innings.
The Angels went ahead to stay in the first on Torii Hunter’s RBI single. That came right after the inning was extended when Guerrero reached despite striking out, what would have been the third out, because of a wild pitch by rookie right-hander Tommy Hunter (8-4).
Guerrero led off the third with a 408-foot blast into the left-field seats for his 15th homer and a 2-0 lead.
Kazmir (9-8) struck out five with no walks but threw 104 pitches through six innings. Five days earlier, he threw a career-high 118 pitches in six innings against the Chicago White Sox.
Jason Bulger and Kevin Jepsen, who got out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, each pitched a scoreless inning before Brian Fuentes wrapped up the Angels’ 11th shutout of the season for his 43rd save.
The Rangers couldn’t score even after a rare miscue by center fielder Hunter, whose errant throw allowed Ian Kinsler to take an extra base after a one-out single in the eighth while pinch-hitter Julio Borbon went to third. Hunter’s first error in 265 games ended the longest active errorless streak by a major-league outfielder.
David Murphy was then intentionally walked with two outs to bring up Andruw Jones, who flied out deep to right field.
