SEATTLE -- Garrett Richards walked two batters in the first inning. [url=https://www.cheapthunder.com/641h-jim-mcilvaine-jersey

SEATTLE -- Garrett Richards walked two batters in the first inning. Jim McIlvaine Jersey . He pitched out of a jam in the third with runners on second and third. He overcame errors and walks thanks to double plays and strikeouts. On a night the only offensive punch for the Los Angeles Angels came off the bat of Albert Pujols, it was Richards making sure those two runs stood up. Pujols homered for the second straight game while Richards and two relievers combined on one-hitter as the Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 2-0 on Wednesday night. "Just with experience I think the game has slowed down for me and so its basically just come down to me executing pitches," Richards said. Pujols hit a two-run homer in the third off Seattle starter Roenis Elias (0-1). Richards (2-0) threw seven shutout innings. Abraham Almonte was the only Seattle batter to reach via hit when he singled in the third inning. Richards walked three batters and the Angels committed two errors, but struck out six. "Confidence is high. And I think that when youre confident youre pretty comfortable youre going to make those pitches at the very least," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "I think thats the next step Garrett has taken. I think hes getting to know his stuff better." The pitching effort was needed after the Angels had been knocked around by Seattle, getting outscored 31-11 in losing the first four meetings against the Mariners. The pitching, combined with the 494th homer of Pujols career provided a bright spot after a miserable start to the day and the news that Josh Hamilton could miss two months with a thumb injury. Hamilton is likely to miss the next six to eight weeks after suffering an injury to his left thumb the night before sliding headfirst into first base. An MRI Wednesday revealed a complete tear of the thumbs ulnar collateral ligament. Hell be examined in Los Angeles on Friday to determine if hell need surgery. Pujols blast went 418-feet into the netting beyond the Angels bullpen in left field, and like the night before, Mike Trout was on base. Pujols is now six homers shy of becoming the 26th player in baseball history to reach 500 homers in his career. "Albert has very high expectations for what he needs to do," Scioscia said. "He takes it very seriously. He assumes the leadership role, he wants to be the cornerstone of the lineup and he takes that responsibility. Its good to see him do some of the things hes capable of and hopefully itll be there for a long time." Richards throwing a gem in Seattle should not have come as a surprise. The last time he started in Seattle last August, Richards threw 7 1-3 shutout innings. In 12 innings this season, Richards has given up one earned run and struck out 13. His only issue is walks and pitch count. He walked five in his season debut against Houston last week, lasting just five innings. His one jam came in the third when Almonte got Seattles only hit and Brad Miller reached on an error. Robinson Cano grounded out to first and Richards struck out Justin Smoak to end the inning. "When you run into a buzz saw like that where a guy is throwing 96-97, getting an 86-89 slider over for strikes, its going to be a tough night," Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon said. "He just out-dueled our guy." Notes: Angels SS Erick Aybar was a late scratch from the lineup after getting some pre-game dental work. He was replaced by John McDonald. ... Injured Seattle started Taijuan Walker (shoulder) threw five shutout innings for Double-A Jackson in a rehab outing on Wednesday. Walker struck out 10. ... One of Seattles other injured starters, Hisashi Iwakuma, threw his first bullpen session on Wednesday as he continues to work back from a finger injury that kept him from throwing for most of spring training. Luguentz Dort Jersey . Carey Price made 27 saves for Montreal (30-21-6) for his fourth shutout of the year and second in four games. David Desharnais added an empty netter for the Canadiens. Reto Berra stopped 25 shots for Calgary (21-28-7). Ricky Pierce Jersey . "If we could score a six in every game, obviously I would be pretty excited," Jones said. "Its a long week but a short week. Its a pretty short round robin from what were used to so you dont want to get behind the eight ball early. https://www.cheapthunder.com/471h-fred-brown-jersey-thunder.html . This week, topics cover the Blue Jays rotation, the futures John Gibbons and Alex Anthopoulos, protecting pitchers and a bonus question on his predictions for the MLB playoffs.Canada will have home-court advantage in its bid to stay among the worlds best tennis countries. Canada will host Colombia in a Sept. 12-14 tie, with the winner starting Davis Cup play in the World Group next year. The location of the best-of-five competition has yet to be announced, but hosting the tie is a definite advantage for Canada, says the team captain. "The number one thing I think we were hoping for was to play at home," Martin Larendeau said Tuesday on a conference call. "Weve seen over the last few years when we play at home, our odds increase dramatically." Canada beat both Spain and Italy indoors in Vancouver last year to reach the semifinals for the first time in history before bowing out to Serbia. The Davis Cup, founded in 1900, is the touted as the largest annual international team competition in sport with 122 countries participating in 2014. A tie consists of two singles matches on the first day, a doubles match on Day 2 and concludes with a pair of singles matches on the third day. The ascension of Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver in mens singles, as well as the work of tireless and decorated doubles veteran Daniel Nestor of Toronto, turned Canada into a consistent Davis Cup threat in recent years. Canada started this years Davis Cup in the World Group for a third straight year. Beset by injuries, however, Canada lost 4-1 to Japan in Tokyo in February. Raonic and Pospisil didnt play at all and Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls, Ont., retired in the second set of a singles match on the final day because of a stomach injury. So Japan advanced to the quarter-finals, while Canada must win the playoff versus Colombia to start 2015 in the World Group again. Canada fell 4-1 to Colombia in Bogota the last time the two countries met in 2010. Because that tie was played on the road, its Canadas turn to host the South Americans. The Canadians need to leverage a friendly, familiar venue into a victory, lest they drop into Americas Group 1 qualifying matches next year. "I dont think anybody wants to go back to Grooup 1, where we would have to face a lot of South Americans teams and away ties and stuff," Larendeau said. Deonte Burton Jersey. "We have to make the most of this window to play a South American team at home. Everyone is keen on us staying in the World Group. "Our reference for us is going to be the matches last February and last April when we played at home. I think its going to bring a lot of good feelings back to play at home and hopefully that will put the guys in a productive frame of mind." Tennis Canada will announce the location at a later date. Larendeau says he and the athletes will have some input into the location, but not the final say. "The good thing about playing in September is we have options to play indoors or outdoors. Its something we dont have when we play in February or even April," the Laurendeau said. "We need the players feedback to see how they think theyre going to match up in altitude, sea level, indoors, outdoors. The players and myself have a bit of a say on where wed like to play, but it doesnt come down to that. "Theres executive decisions and theres also a marketplace, theres also promoting the game in cities or in areas that are not able to see a lot of tennis. Theres a lot of factors that go in, but our job is to come up to the board of directors and president and say these are the conditions wed like to play in and lets work on the venue now." Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal are previous Canadian host cities of World Group ties. Canada is seeded No. 8, while Colombia is ranked No. 26 in Davis Cup. Raonic is currently No. 11 in ATP mens singles and Pospisil is 28th. Colombia doesnt have a singles player in the worlds top 50, but the doubles team of Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah is formidable. That duo lost the final of last months Sony Open to world No. 1 Bob and Mike Bryan of the U.S. "I think Colombia is a very tough team," Larendeau said. "They have a lot of depth, they have an excellent doubles team and they have a lot of experience in singles play." ' ' '