Santana Pitches Gem As MLB-Best Angels Stifle Tigers In Detroit

Detroit, MI (AHN) - Ervin Santana pitched another masterful game to win his fourth straight start, Gary Matthews had four hits and the Los Angeles Angels maintained the best record in the majors with a 7-1 pounding of Detroit Thursday.

Santana (15-5) allowed one run and six hits, and struck out eight through 7 1/3 innings. He's now won four in a row that included a perfect August.

He has yet to lose since facing back-to-back defeats in late July against Cleveland and Baltimore.

Matthews backed him up with hits each of his first four at-bats.

He finished 4-for-5 and also scored on two runs, the first one on Mark Teixeira's RBI double in the first inning.

Torii Hunter added a solo shot for the Angels, who began the day just percentage points ahead of the Chicago Cubs for the best record in baseball.

The win gave the Angels the series victory at 2-1 and moved them to 85-54 against the idle Cubs' 85-55.

Los Angeles made it 2-0 in the second on Juan Rivera's RBI double before manufacturing four more runs in the third.

The Angels mustered four straight run-scoring singles that chased Detroit starter Kenny Rogers, who dropped to 9-13 after giving up six runs and eight hits in just two innings.

Detroit's lone score of the day came in the eighth, when Curtis Granderson hit a towering homer to deep right.

The Tigers lost for the third time in the last five and slid to 67-73.

Detroit travels to Minnesota for a three-game set beginning Friday night.

The Angels battle the White Sox at Chicago in a battle of division leaders also Friday night.