Rangers Knock Out Angels, 2-1

For Mark Langston, the key was getting ahead of hitters. For Texas right-hander Kevin Brown, the key was getting hit in the head.

Happily, Brown was later able to laugh about the third-inning line drive by Luis Polonia that hit him in the left temple and ricocheted into center field, hushing the Anaheim Stadium crowd of 44,932. Knocking him cold was the only way the Angels were going to knock him out of Sunday’s game, so effective were his sinker and his poise in a five-hit, complete-game performance that led the Rangers to a 2-1 victory.

Although the liner knocked Brown backward and down, he wasn’t hurt.

“Not when you’re dealing with a head like mine. They couldn’t do any damage,” said Brown, who missed shutting out the Angels when Dave Winfield lifted a hard sinker and drove it into the left-field seats for his seventh home run with one out in the ninth. Brown had pitched seven scoreless innings against the Angels last Monday.

“They could have done more damage if they hit me in the arm or the foot,” Brown added. “My head was a little sore, but not so bad I couldn’t concentrate. . .I was unlucky in a way but lucky enough.”

Brown (7-4) was lucky, but he was also good enough so that the Rangers could strike out 12 times against Langston (4-6) and not suffer for it. In losing two of three in this series, the Angels lost two games to Oakland and dropped 10 1/2 games behind in the AL West, their biggest deficit since they were 11 games out May 17.

The Angels also slipped back to .500, at 29-29.

“(Langston) pitched so well. It’s a shame,” Winfield said. “But we have nothing to be ashamed or feel bad about.”

Although Brown gave up a single to Wally Joyner after Polonia’s single, he retired 12 of the next 13 and gave up only Winfield’s homer in the last 5 1/3 innings.

“He wanted to win this game so bad, nothing could get him out of there,” said Polonia, who was relieved to hear Brown was not injured. “That guy’s a pretty good pitcher. He’s tough.”

Winfield, who didn’t face Brown last Monday, said he was determined to stay under Brown’s sinker instead of giving in to the temptation of hitting down on it and beating it into the ground.

“I got that last one, but that guy pitched a good game,” Winfield said. “I’ve seen him three times, once with New York and twice here, and he’s pitched three good games.”

Langston also pitched well, and now has 75 strikeouts--tying him for second in the AL with Seattle’s Erik Hanson. Boston’s Roger Clemens has 88.

He walked three and gave up only four hits in eight innings, but two of those hits came in the first. Former Angel Gary Pettis led off with a single, stole second and was tagged out on Jack Daugherty’s grounder. Daugherty went to third on Julio Franco’s double into the right-field corner and scored on Ruben Sierra’s sacrifice fly.

Pettis figured in Langston’s troubles again in the third, when he drew a one-out walk, stole second and scored on Sierra’s two-out single to left.

“It’s Gary Pettis--what are you going to do?” Langston said. “I try to keep him as close as possible. Obviously, I would have loved to pick him off, but he got me. Gary Pettis is one of the best baserunners in the game. You just try to keep him as close as you can and keep your concentration on the hitter.”

Langston’s concentration intensified as the game progressed. He didn’t allow a hit in his final four innings and recorded six of his strikeouts in that span, throwing 140 pitches overall before giving way to Mark Eichhorn.

“When you strike out a lot of guys, you have a tendency to make a lot of pitches and I still felt pretty strong,” Langston said. “That’s a good sign, that I made 140 and felt pretty comfortable. . .I’ve got to get ahead of hitters and stay ahead and make them swing at the pitches I want them to swing at. When I get behind and have to come in, they know I have to.”

“Probably my last six starts, excluding my last one (a four-run, 11-hit win at Kansas City last Tuesday) I’ve felt pretty good, in a groove, but the results just aren’t there. Winning and losing is the bottom line.

“I feel like I’m starting to pitch a lot better than at the start of the season, and that’s a good sign. I was able to get all my pitches over for strikes today, and that makes me more effective than if I can only get one or two of my pitches over.”

Brown defused an Angel scoring threat created by another unusual play in the first inning. Polonia had singled to center and went to third when second baseman Franco’s relay on Pettis’ throw from center field whizzed past Brown, who had turned toward first in response to a shout from first baseman Daugherty.

“It was a situation where I didn’t want to give up the run,” Brown said. “It would (have been) a tie game. We scored a run in the first inning and you want to protect that. Against someone with the ability of Mark Langston, every run is very precious.”

Victories have been precious and rare for Langston, but he’s philosophical. “All I can do is go out and try to keep the game close,” he said. “Today, we just came up short.”

Angel Notes

Mark Eichhorn pitched the ninth, his league-leading 29th appearance this season. Starting with a 2 2/3-inning stint against Toronto May 24, the side-armer has appeared in 11 of the Angels’ last 17 games. He has four saves and has lowered his ERA to 1.36.

Infielder Kent Anderson (sprained right shoulder) is eligible and ready to come off the disabled list today, leaving Manager Doug Rader with a personnel decision. Gary DiSarcina is the likely candidate to return to triple-A Edmonton. . .A victory Sunday would have put the Angels two games over .500, a position they haven’t been in since they were 5-3 on April 17. . .Rader has used 57 lineups in 58 games.

Reliever Greg Minton will undergo tests today to determine the amount of strength in his right shoulder, which “felt like it came out of the socket” last week and slowed his comeback from elbow surgery. Minton, 38, is lifting weights to strengthen the muscles in the back of the shoulder, which shows the wear that could be expected from more than 12 years of pitching in the major leagues.

“Anybody who doesn’t think I’m going to come back is a fool because I’m going to. It’s just going to take a little longer than I planned,” he said. “Either that, or I’m going to be on the Olympic weightlifting team.”

Third baseman Jack Howell had no problems with his left knee, which put him on the disabled list until Saturday. He was hitless in two at-bats and also walked. “I need to see more pitches, get more at bats, get that first hit to get back on track,” he said.

ANGEL ATTENDANCE Sunday: 44,932

1990 (29 dates): 942,279

1989 (29 dates): 887,786

Increase: 54,493

1990 average: 32,492