Abbott Throws One Bad Pitch : Angels: Teammates console him after his errant toss to third sets up Rangers’ winning rally in the sixth inning of a 4-3 victory.

Kirk McCaskill approached Jim Abbott’s locker quietly, bringing a chair and a sympathetic ear. Chuck Finley wordlessly patted Abbott on the shoulder as Abbott stared at the floor, his head bowed and shoulders slumped.

Nothing they said could have erased Abbott’s sixth-inning throwing error on a bunt by Mike Stanley, a misplay that set up the winning rally in the Texas Rangers’ 4-3 victory over the Angels Saturday night. But by their words and their presence, they told him he was wrong to feel he had failed them.

“It’s just really disappointing playing against a good team and a good pitcher like Kevin Brown and losing,” said Abbott, who defied the searing Texas heat and the Rangers’ hot-hitting lineup until the sixth inning. “I’m disappointed that I let the team down like that.”

Abbott’s throw, made after a barehanded pickup, sailed well over a leaping Gary Gaetti at third and scored Juan Gonzalez, who led off the inning with a single and took second when Abbott hit Steve Buechele. A double down the left-field line by Ivan Rodriguez scored Buechele with the Rangers’ third run and Stanley with the go-ahead run before there were any outs.

The Angels’ third consecutive loss dropped them two games behind the Minnesota Twins and ensured they can’t be in first place at the All-Star break, as they had hoped when they took the division lead for one day, on Wednesday.

“That doesn’t matter. We’ve got a lot of baseball left,” catcher Lance Parrish said. “We would have liked to be in first place at the halfway point, but being in first place at the end is what matters.”

Abbott (7-6) matched his season high Saturday with seven strikeouts, but that was no consolation for him.

“I didn’t feel very good about the game at all,” he said after losing for only the second time in his last nine decisions.

Asked if he had rushed the throw to third, he nodded but offered no other comment. Some Angels thought he had slipped as he dashed toward the third-base side of the mound, and others thought he didn’t get a sure grip on the ball.

“He’s got to make the play the best he can, as fast as he can,” Gaetti said. “I’ve grabbed the ball sometimes and (it has sailed). It’s an error. There’s nothing you can do about it.

“We had time (to get Gonzalez). He made the right play. He just made a bad throw.”

Abbott has said he doesn’t like pitching in hot weather because perspiration makes the tricky shift of his glove from his right hand to his left and back especially difficult. That didn’t come into play on Stanley’s bunt, because Abbott made the play with his left hand. Abbott has made only two errors this season.

“He can pitch in anything,” said Lachemann, who added he was pleased to see the other pitchers so quick to console Abbott in the clubhouse. “He probably didn’t have a good grip on the ball. . . . He was pitching well. This is a very tough team for a left-hander to pitch against.”

Rafael Palmeiro homered off Abbott in the first, joining Detroit second baseman Lou Whitaker as the only left-handers to homer off Abbott this season. But the Angels matched that run in the second on Lance Parrish’s 10th homer of the season.

Dave Winfield’s 18th homer--the 396th of his career--gave the Angels a 2-1 lead, and they extended that to 3-1 in the fifth off Brown (7-6). Wally Joyner’s broken-bat single got things going, and Joyner took second on Brown’s wild pitch. He scored on a single by Dave Parker.

That hit was the last the Angels would get. Brown retired the last seven batters he faced before yielding to Jeff Russell, who earned his 17th save.

“I like wins any way we can get them,” Ranger Manager Bobby Valentine said after his club stayed a game behind the division-leading Twins.

“That was a gift because (Gonzalez) was out at third on Stanley’s bunt.”

Angel Manager Doug Rader bemoaned the misfortune that has plagued Abbott this season. Abbott has been the starter each of the four times the bullpen has blown a save this season and he has four no-decisions, more than any other starter.

“To me, he’s been as consistent as anybody I’ve seen in the league,” Rader said. “When he starts getting the breaks he deserves, I’m sure he’s going to go on a roll a lot of people won’t believe.”

But Saturday, the day when those breaks will arrive seemed far away. Parrish, looking across the clubhouse at his 23-year-old teammate, smiled sadly.

“It’s been kind of a frustrating year for him. He’s pitched a lot of good games and not gotten wins,” Parrish said. “He’s coming down on himself quite a bit, but it’s not the end of the world. He’ll find that out.”