Angels Get Lead but Knuckle Under to Hough : Rangers: Veteran pitcher keeps his cool, hurls seven innings to earn the victory.

After 18 seasons in the major leagues, Texas pitcher Charlie Hough knows when to push the panic button and when not to.

And Friday night, he didn’t need to.

The knuckleballer kept his cool when the Rangers fell behind the Angels, 3-1, in the fourth inning.

As a result, he went seven innings to earn the victory in a 10-6 victory over the Angels.

Hough, 42, struck out two and walked two before leaving in the seventh inning with a 10-3 lead.

The Rangers gave Hough two runs in the fifth, four in the seventh and three in the eighth as the right-hander picked up the 180th win of his career against 161 losses.

But it appeared early on that his win would have to wait.

Hough, 11-11 lifetime against the Angels, watched one of his infamous knuckleballs and two sliders sail over the outfield fence in the first four innings.

He gave up a solo homer to Lance Parrish in the second and one-run shots to Dave Winfield and Rick Schu in the fourth as the Rangers trailed, 3-1.

“I didn’t have a knuckleball tonight,” Hough said. “The last two games, it hasn’t worked at all. I threw sliders on two of the home runs, and they didn’t work either. I kept the outfield pretty busy.”

Hough settled down in the fifth, giving up only a two-out single to Chili Davis.

He was back in a jam again in the sixth.

Donnie Hill doubled to left with one out, then reached third when a Hough knuckleball bounced in the dirt past catcher Mike Stanley.

But as he had done earlier, Hough recovered, getting Schu and Orton to fly out to end the inning.

In the seventh, Hough took the mound with his first lead of the game, 7-3. He retired the Angels in order, all on ground balls.

Ranger Manager Bobby Valentine pulled Hough in the bottom of the eighth after he walked Davis and had a 3-0 count on Parrish.

“Charlie did it for us again,” Valentine said. “He wound up saving our bullpen. He did it with a knuckleball that wasn’t too good at times, but he kept the homers to solos and it worked out quite nicely.”

John Barfield, who relieved Hough, gave up a double to Parrish and a deep fly ball to center by Winfield that scored Davis from third. Hill then drove in Parrish with a double off Barfield, who was then relieved by Craig McMurtry.

The victory ended a two-game losing streak for Hough, whose 6-4 record ties him for the team lead in wins with Kevin Brown.

It also avenged a 7-4 loss to the Angels Sunday in Arlington, Tex., where Hough gave up only four hits in 6 2/3 innings, but also walked six and gave up six runs.

But Friday night Hough was in Anaheim Stadium, where he has won four of his last five starts with a 1.62 earned-run average.

Hough said he hasn’t won too many high-scoring games in his career.

“I lost too many 1-0 and 2-1 games. I probably won about 20 10-9 games, but it’s more fun than losing.”