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Dan Haren holds Cleveland to one hit in 2-0 victory

"The guy in charge of the music in Angel Stadium may have underestimated Dan Haren on Tuesday. Manager Mike Scioscia did not.

Through eight shutout innings, Haren's pitch count was at 115, and with Jordan Walden throwing furiously in the bullpen and the Angels clinging to a two-run lead, a pitching change seemed imminent.

So much so that when the Angels came out to warm up for the top of the ninth, the stadium public address system blared Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," Walden's entrance song.

"I guess they thought I was done after eight," Haren said.

Hardly. Haren needed only 10 more pitches to breeze through the ninth and complete a masterful one-hitter, the Angels snapping the Cleveland Indians' eight-game win streak with a 2-0 victory.

Haren, who improved to 3-0 with an 0.73 earned-run average, struck out eight and walked two in the 125-pitch effort, the right-hander's only blemish a soft single to right-center field by Shin-Soo Choo in the fourth.

he retired 17 of the last 18, one when right fielder Torii Hunter made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Matt LaPorta in the eighth.

It was the first one-hitter and third shutout of Haren's career and the 17th complete-game one-hitter in Angels history.

Peter Bourjos and Mark Trumbo lined solo home runs to left field, Bourjos in the third and Trumbo in the seventh. Both came off Indians ace Fausto Carmona, who allowed four hits in 72/3 innings.

"I don't think you could have pitched any better of a game" Scioscia said. "What was really special was he pitched with his back against the wall all night. It wasn't a 6-0 game. It was 1-0. They have guys who can really drive the ball, and he made terrific pitches to keep them down all night."

Haren, who mixed his fastball and split-fingered fastball with an effective curve , is a workhorse who hasn't missed a start since 2005, a streak over 206 starts."


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