Angels win seventh straight as Tribe continue to struggle

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Dustin Moseley didn't have much time to savor his victorious major league debut with the Los Angeles Angels. They optioned him back to Triple-A Salt Lake after the game, and the nameplate over his locker was taken down quickly.

Elias Says ...
Dustin Moseley is the first starting pitcher in the live ball era (1920 to present) to win his major league debut despite throwing only five innings and allowing 10-plus hits. • For more Elias Says, click here.

"Anytime you have an opportunity like this, you're just full of emotions," Moseley said after Monday night's 10-5 win over the Cleveland Indians. "I'm super excited. The lights are a lot brighter here. ... It was a great opportunity and a lot of fun out there."

Garret Anderson and Orlando Cabrera hit two-run homers, Maicer Izturis had a career-high four hits, and the Angels won their season-high seventh straight game.

The two-time defending AL West champs have won 12 of 13 overall to climb within a half-game of division-leading Oakland.

"There's a lot of confidence in this room, you can feel that," Moseley said. "And that helped me out."

Moseley allowed four runs and 10 hits in five innings. The right-hander, acquired from Cincinnati in a December 2004 trade that sent Ramon Ortiz to the Reds, struck out two and didn't walk a batter in a spot start for the ailing Jered Weaver.

The Indians have lost eight of 10 to fall a season-worst 10 games under .500 and 21 games out of first place in the AL Central. Jake Westbrook (7-5) was charged with seven runs -- five earned -- and 12 hits over 3 2/3 innings in his shortest outing since May 8, 2005, when he lasted only 3 1/3 in a 7-2 loss at Texas.

Cleveland twice used home runs to pull within one run. Travis Hafner narrowed the gap to 3-2 in the third with a leadoff drive that just cleared the 18-foot wall in right field. It was his 28th homer and ninth in 17 games.

Jason Michaels, who got Sunday off following a 6-for-34 rut that dropped his average to .264, sliced the Angels' lead to 5-4 in the fourth with his eighth homer of the season after a leadoff double by Todd Hollandsworth. But Moseley and Hector Carrasco combined to retire 11 in a row before Victor Martinez's leadoff single in the eighth.

"I was working behind in the count a lot, made a couple of mistakes, and they took advantage of it," Moseley said. "I'm glad the team put some runs for me, and the bullpen did a great job."

Cabrera's seventh homer gave the Angels a 7-4 lead in the fourth. Izturis singled in a run in the eighth and finished 4-for-5. Vladimir Guerrero went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI singles for the Angels, who got 15 of their 17 hits in the first five innings.

"Our situational hitting's much better, and we certainly got our share of two-out hits tonight with guys in scoring position," manager Mike Scioscia said. "I liked our approach. We were patient enough against a good pitcher, worked some deep counts and attacked them the way we had to."

Moseley gave up singles to his first two batters before Ronnie Belliard singled home Grady Sizemore with two out for the game's first run. But the Angels responded with three in the bottom half.

Guerrero tied it with a two-out RBI single after a double by Izturis, then Anderson wrapped his eighth homer of the season around the right-field pole on a 2-1 pitch. Westbrook came in with an AL-best groundball-to-flyball ratio of 3.31, and had allowed only five home runs in 96 1/3 innings over his previous 15 starts.

Anderson, the Angels' career leader in hits and RBI, started as the designated hitter for the fifth straight game because of a sore hamstring while Juan Rivera played left field. Rivera made it 4-2 in the bottom of the third with an RBI double after Mike Napoli reached on a two-out throwing error by third baseman Ramon Vazquez.

Kendry Morales followed Rivera with a run-scoring single.

"It was my job to pick the team up right there, and I did the complete opposite," Westbrook said.

Game notes
The Angels recalled LHP Joe Saunders from Salt Lake to make another spot start on Tuesday night. Saunders' outing is for RHP Kelvim Escobar, who has elbow problems but is expected to return to the rotation during the weekend. ... Despite his brief outing, Westbrook leads the Cleveland staff with 119 2/3 innings pitched after throwing more than 200 innings in each of the previous two seasons. He is trying to join Rick Waits, Charles Nagy and knuckleballer Tom Candiotti as the only Indians pitchers since 1975 to work at least 200 innings in three or more consecutive seasons. ... Hafner has 104 career homers, just 10 shy of injured Angels CF Darin Erstad for the most by a player born in North Dakota. Both players hail from Jamestown. Erstad, on the DL indefinitely because of ankle problems, has not homered in 91 at-bats this season. ... Weaver, who missed his turn because of biceps tendinitis but also is expected to return this weekend, made a special request to a team official to have the video crew show brother Jeff's first start for the St. Louis Cardinals on the scoreboard during batting practice so he could see it. They did it just in time for Jered to see his older brother and former Angels teammate give up a grand slam to Atlanta's Brian McCann.