Jo Adell hit a two-run home run to highlight a five-run first inning and rookie Walbert Urena allowed one run on six hits over six innings to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-1 victory over the slumping St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Jorge Soler had a two-run double, Jose Siri doubled and had two hits and Zach Neto and Adell also had two hits for Los Angeles, which won its third straight game.
Urena (6-7) walked one and struck out five. He threw 28 pitches during a scoreless first inning, 16 of which registered 100 mph or better, including one that hit 101.5 mph. Mitch Farris, Chase Silseth and Ryan Zefferjahn combined to allow one hit over three shutout innings.
Alec Burleson had three hits for St. Louis, which lost its fourth straight and fifth in six games.
Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore (5-7) allowed five runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out seven.
The first six batters of the game reached base for Los Angeles. Neto and Mike Trout opened the frame with back-to-back singles, but Neto was easily thrown out trying to go first to third by left fielder Lars Nootbaar.
Nolan Schanuel then walked and Soler followed with a double into the left field corner to drive in Trout and Schanuel. Vaughn Grissom followed with a single to drive in Soler and make it 3-0. Adell, who walked-off a 3-2 victory in Monday night’s series opener when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, then hit his 15th homer, a 405-foot drive into the St. Louis bullpen in left.
St. Louis cut the lead to 5-1 in the fifth when Blaze Jordan singled, advanced to third on a single by Bryan Torres and scored on a fielder’s choice by JJ Wetherholt.
