Darling Does It to Angels : Baseball: Oakland’s new acquisition gives up no runs in seven innings for second game in a row. Langston thwarted by home runs, 3-1.

In two starts for the Oakland Athletics, right-hander Ron Darling has won more games than the Angels’ fifth starters have won all season.

Darling recorded his second successive victory Saturday, pitching seven shutout innings in Oakland’s 3-1 triumph over the Angels at Anaheim Stadium. The Angels’ fifth starters are a combined 1-11 with an earned-run average of 8.62, and Darling is 2-0 with 14 shutout innings to his credit.

The Angels claim the price the New York Mets and Montreal Expos asked them to pay for Darling was too steep, but they paid a higher price Saturday by losing for the ninth time in 10 games and remaining 12 games behind the division-leading Minnesota Twins.

“I had heard a lot of things. California of course was one (possible destination) I heard,” said Darling, who was traded by the Mets to Montreal on July 15 and to Oakland on July 31 for two low-level pitching prospects.

“The Angels have got a good ballclub. Winning is contagious, hitting is contagious, not hitting is contagious. They’re on a roll where they’re probably trying too hard. We’ve all been there.”

He is thrilled to be with the A’s, who closed within three games of first place Saturday. Darling helped himself with a slick pickoff move to nab Luis Polonia off second in the third inning and he got offensive help from Oakland outfielder and sometime clairvoyant Dave Henderson.

Before the game, Darling enjoyed hearing Henderson boast about his career batting average against Angel starter Mark Langston (14-6). No one was more delighted than Darling to see Henderson back up his words with a two-run homer that ended Langston’s no-hit bid after 5 2/3 innings.

“I’m going to go to him before my next start and ask him what he’s going to do,” said Darling, whose supposedly faded fastball had enough zip to keep the Angels off stride and result in seven strikeouts. “This is a quality team, a veteran team. They’ve made me feel welcome. Pitching 14 shutout innings probably helps get you a warm welcome.”

Think those shutout innings wouldn’t have helped the Angels?

“He’s a quality pitcher,” said Dave Parker, who was stranded at third when Darling got Dick Schofield to fly to center with the bases loaded in the second inning. “The NL has some good hitters and he was successful over there. He was the best thing on the market and Oakland got him.

“I was surprised by the velocity he has on his fastball. It has improved since I last saw him in the National League. He didn’t throw any sliders tonight, which surprised me.”

If his initial success with Oakland surprises the scouts who said he was washed up, Darling doesn’t mind.

“I’ve been told the last year and a half or whatever that I didn’t have good stuff, but I still think I can pitch,” said Darling, who was 15-6 when the Mets won the World Series in 1986 and 17-9 in 1988 but lost his spot in the starting rotation to Wally Whitehurst. “The biggest thing for me is one, to be given the opportunity, and two, knowing they want me out there as opposed to the other team (the Mets). I really just want one thing, and that’s for my teammates to respect me.”

His manager certainly does. “He did a lot of things that were real impressive,” Tony La Russa said. “When you get the lead and he goes out and gets a zero (retiring the Angels in order in the sixth and seventh after Oakland took the lead), that’s what you need.

“His first game, we had lost a couple to Minnesota. Now, it’s just the opposite. We’ve got something going and we want to keep it going. You’ve got a guy with 14 wins pitching a no-hitter--how are you going to win unless your pitcher keeps you in the game?”

Henderson’s two-out homer seemed to take a lot out of Langston, who was making his third attempt at his 15th victory. He gave up singles in the seventh to Terry Steinbach and Mark McGwire and gave up another run in the eighth, on Mike Gallego’s leadoff homer to left.

The Angels scored their run in the eighth off Joe Klink on Wally Joyner’s double and two wild pitches. Steve Chitren got Gary Gaetti to ground to third for the final out of the inning, and Dennis Eckersley earned his major league-leading 32nd save despite giving up a single to pinch-hitter Max Venable in the ninth.

“I just wasn’t in a good situation and now I’m in a good situation,” Darling said.

The Angels aren’t.