Angels closer Huston Street leaves game reluctantly

Huston Street twice waved Mike Scioscia off from the Camden Yards mound Sunday afternoon. Eventually, the closer could not relent to his manager’s concerns. His left hamstring was cramping, and when the first three batters he faced in the eighth inning reached base, Scioscia pulled him.

“If you want to be mad at anyone,” Scioscia said to Street, “be mad at me.”

“They told me I had no choice,” Street said. “You have to understand. It’s your manager.”

Street allowed a single to the first man he faced, then picked him off. He next yielded a home run, which brought Scioscia and trainer Adam Nevala to the mound. He convinced them he was fine, then walked Adam Jones. That ended his day.

He had not pitched in five days and will not pitch for another four, the All-Star break now underway until Friday. He thought he could pitch through the cramps. Scioscia thought differently.

“You just have to be careful with a pitcher’s mechanics,” Scioscia said. “We weren’t going to lose him because he was compensating. So we just wanted to make a change there.”

The abbreviated appearance bore a resemblance to Street’s season to date. He missed more than a month with an oblique strain and has not been effective when healthy. His earned-run average stands at 5.09 after 17 2/3 innings, far worse than his career 2.90 mark. He has struck out 11 and walked 11.

“The first half’s over,” he said. “I’m happy. Let’s just start over. Sometimes you have those first halves and you are thankful for the break. It shouldn’t mean anything, but it always does.”

Short hops

Scioscia said he and his staff discussed moving Kole Calhoun back behind Albert Pujols in the Angels’ lineup while C.J. Cron sits out with a fractured hand. They opted against it, though, deciding that they cannot afford to disrupt the combination of Calhoun and Yunel Escobar atop the order. “You’re going to move guys around and create a hole that we’ve already fixed,” Scioscia said. …

Scioscia again declined to reveal how his starting rotation will set up for the second half of the season. Many major league teams have announced their starters for the first few games, beginning Friday.