Unser Chat » broke Querreys serve five times, and kept him off-balance

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Los Angeles Angels powered their way to a victory. Mike Trout and Josh Hamilton homered to help the Angels beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 on Friday night Trout hit his 25th homer of the season, a two-run shot off Jeremy Hellickson (0-1) during a three-run first that put the Angels up 3-0. "Were getting our timing back," Trout said. "A good win tonight for sure." Los Angeles went ahead 4-1 on Hamiltons solo homer in the third. The slugger was hit by Jeff Beliveaus pitch in the seventh inning and has a bruised left middle finger. Angels manager Mike Scioscia said Hamiltons finger was a little sore and isnt sure if he will play Saturday. After Tampa Bay loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth against Huston Street, the closer got his fifth save since being acquired from San Diego on July 18 by striking out Desmond Jennings and Ben Zobrist, and getting Matt Joyce on a pop fly. Zobrist had a potential extra-base hit go foul down the right field line. "You know its a matter of time before he starts making pitches," Scioscia said. "Thats a tough group to go through. He got it done." This was the Rays first game since trading ace David Price to Detroit as part of a three-team deal Thursday. Tampa Bay received Tigers left-hander Drew Smyly and two minor leaguers. "There are no moral victories," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "Thats a game we should not have permitted to get away." Albert Pujols tied Chipper Jones for 25th place on the career list with his 549th double in the first and scored on Erick Aybars single. Matt Shoemaker (9-3) allowed three runs and eight hits over five innings. Tampa Bay got within 4-3 in the fifth on Evan Longorias infield single. A second run scored on a throwing error by third baseman David Freese. Longoria was thrown out attempting to advance to second after colliding with first base umpire Larry Vanover. The Angels took a 5-3 lead on a sixth-inning run-scoring double by Chris Iannetta. Hellickson gave up four runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings. The right-hander, coming back from right elbow surgery in January, has gone less than five innings in all three of his starts this season. Tampa Bays Cole Figueroa hit a second-inning sacrifice fly. TRAINERS ROOM Angels: Tyler Skaggs was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a left forearm strain. Scioscia says the left-hander might miss "a little bit of time." Rays: Right fielder Wil Myers, out since May 31 with a broken right wrist, took batting practice in an indoor cage for the first time. Catcher Ryan Hanigan, out with a strained left oblique, will join Single-A Charlotte on Saturday. ON DECK Angels: Left-hander C.J. Wilson (8-6) is scheduled to return from the disabled list to start Saturday night. He went on the DL July 10 with a sprained right ankle Rays: Right-hander Chris Archer (8-6) is looking Saturday night to extend a stretch of going six or more innings in 10 of 12 starts. LATE NIGHT The Angels arrived at their hotel just after 4 a.m. following a 1-0, 13-inning win Thursday night at Baltimore that took 4:33. Fridays game lasted 3:39. GUMBY MISSES OUT The Rays are giving away a Maddon "Mr. Potato Head" on Saturday. Maddon is hopeful that there will be another promotion featuring his favourite character "Gumby" in the future. LAST WORD "Everybody realizes its part of the gig. People get traded. Were definitely going to miss him." Joyce on the Price trade. Wholesale Jerseys From China . Philippe Desrosiers stopped 42 shots through overtime and three more in the shootout to pick up his third shutout of the season for Rimouski (31-15-7). Zachary Fucale made 28 saves for Halifax (34-17-3) in the loss. Authentic Jerseys NFL Cheap .com) - Mike Miller scored a season-high 21 points in a rare start and the Cleveland Cavaliers bounced back from their worst loss of the season with a 95-91 win over the Brooklyn Nets. http://www.cheapauthenticjerseysnflwholesale.com/ . Masahiro Tanaka has touched down in the United States and the courting of the Rakuten Golden Eagles stud pitcher has begun in earnest by a bevy of MLB teams interested in the Japanese ace. Cheap Jerseys Online . The 26-year-old Redditch, England, native played three of his past four seasons under Rennie with the Carolina RailHawks of the North American Soccer League. Wholesale China Jerseys . Brassard and Coyotes defenceman Derek Morris were battling for position in the crease when a nudge from Morris sent Brassard on top of Smith late in the third period. WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Former top-10 players Gael Monfils and Jurgen Melzer beat higher-ranked players Friday to advance to the Winston-Salem Open final. Monfils, the Frenchman ranked No. 43 in the world, overcame early struggles to beat 38th-ranked Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine 7-6 (11), 6-3 in the first semifinal at the Wake Forest Tennis Center. "Its very good for my confidence," said Monfils, who will play in his third tournament final of the season and his first since Nice, France, in mid-May. "Im not so happy with the way I played. I could have played better. I have to play better and be more sure of things." The 32nd-ranked Melzer, from Austria, then pulled off the biggest upset in the night match, beating American Sam Querrey -- at No. 29, the highest ranked player in the semifinals, and the crowd favourite -- 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. "Ive been serving well, and my ground strokes have been getting better from match to match," said Melzer, who also is playing in his third tournament final this season and his first since winning an ATP Challenger Tour event in Dallas in March. "After losing in the first round of my last two tournaments, if somebody would have told me I could be in the finals, I wouldve signed it." Monfils and Melzer each have four ATP tournament titles. Monfils holds a 4-0 lifetime record against Melzer, including a first-round victory in Munich in early May. "Every title means a lot," Melzer said. "Ive lost all the previous matches to him, so it will be a nice matchup tomorrow. Hopefully, I can pull it off, which would also be very good leading into the U.S. Open." Monfils -- ranked No. 7 in 2011 -- lost serve twice early and went down 4-0 in the first set to Dolgopolov. The Frenchman even received treatment on his left abdominal muscles and hip during the side exchange after the third game of the set. "I had a little pain before the match, and even during the match," said Monfils, who missed a month of action dealing with ankle and biceps injuries before playing in the final hard-court tournament before neext weeks U.ddddddddddddS. Open. "It was a bit better (after the trainer) worked on it, but I still felt it during the first set," he said. "Its not a tear, but its very tight. I just have to take care of it, and I should be fine." After the injury break, Monfils broke Dolgopolovs serve twice to force the tiebreaker and win the first set. He then added two more service breaks in the second set. "It wasnt my best finish," said Dolgopolov, a Ukrainian who was playing in his first semifinal this season. "I was in the game, but every game I didnt finish out those important points. Game by game, he came back. "I was angry at myself -- I had too many chances. When you have that in your mind, after having played three matches (in the tournament), its tough to make yourself go out and forget about it." Melzer -- ranked as high as No. 8 in 2011 -- broke Querreys serve five times, and kept him off-balance for most of the match with his ground strokes and net game. Still, Querrey fought back after losing the first set, getting a pair of service breaks en route to winning the second set. He then held serve to open the third set and grab the early advantage. "I felt like I played really well for 1 1/2 sets," said Melzer, who lost two previous matches against Querrey. "Then I kind of lost it a little bit, got a little too passive on my side and forgot about the game plan. I was lucky in the beginning of the third (set) to not get broken again. But after that, I started playing well again." Querrey nearly pulled off another service break to open the third set, putting Melzer down 15-40 in the second game. But Melzer fought back to hold serve, then broke Querreys serve the next game to take the advantage. "I didnt feel my greatest out there," Querrey said, who lost in the semifinals for the second straight year. "I played a little sloppy in the first set, then that break in the second (set) helped me regain all the momentum. If I couldve stuck that other break in the third set, maybe it couldve been different." ' ' '