Cueto looks crisp in Giants' 7-2 win over Angels

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Johnny Cueto struck out eight and pitched into the sixth inning, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-2 on Wednesday night.

Albert Pujols tied Alex Rodriguez for second on the career RBI list with a sixth-inning single for the Angels, who have lost six of seven.

Wilmer Flores homered and drove in four runs for San Francisco. Austin Slater also went deep to help the Giants win consecutive games for only the third time this season. Mike Yastrzemski and Evan Longoria added two hits apiece.

“That was a good win,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “Johnny pitched great and he was able to go deeper into the game for us. We asked a lot of him and he gave us a lot of pitches. We were able to hand the ball over to the bullpen and they did a nice job for us.”

Cueto, who missed most of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery, allowed four hits and took a shutout into the sixth before tiring. He got AL home run leader Mike Trout to strikeout looking but gave up an RBI single to Anthony Rendon before coming out after 5 2/3 innings.

Before Cueto fanned Trout, Kapler spoke with his pitcher on the mound.

“He came out and he asked me if I had something left and I said yeah,” Cueto said. “Then he goes, ‘OK, I’ll give you two more hitters to face.’ I feel good. I’m happy that I was able to win today.”

Cueto (2-0) also made a pair of solid defensive plays to help keep Shohei Ohtani hitless. Cueto chased down Ohtani after fielding a soft comebacker in the second, then grabbed another slow roller near first base and made the tag just before Ohtani reached the bag. After a short replay, the call stood.

There was no retaliation a day after Trout was buzzed by two ninth-inning fastballs near his head from San...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Cueto-looks-crisp-in-Giants-7-2-win-over-Angels-15497196.php