BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Grahe Helps His Chances of Earning the No. 4 Spot

A shaky performance against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday would have ticketed right-hander Joe Grahe for the Angels’ bullpen or for Edmonton, and he knew it.

“Today was a big outing for me,” he said. “I could have taken a big step backward or a nice step forward, and I’m glad I was able to go forward.”

By giving up one run in five innings of the Angels’ 2-1 victory at Angels Stadium in Palm Springs, Grahe helped his chances of becoming the fourth starter. He reduced his earned-run average to 4.20.

“He hadn’t thrown well command-wise, and if he had another poor start, we were going to have to start thinking about Plan B or whatever,” Manager Buck Rodgers said after the Angels won their fourth consecutive game. “Now we can progress the way we’d hoped.”

Grahe still hopes to increase his arm strength and improve his changeup, but he is confident those will come. “The situation’s in my hands,” he said. “If I just go out and deliver, I won’t have anything to worry about.”

Paul Molitor lined the game’s first pitch for a double and eventually scored on Greg Vaughn’s single, but the Angels pulled even in the fourth on Mike Fitzgerald’s RBI-double. They got the winning run during the seventh when Chad Curtis walked, moved to second on Luis Sojo’s sacrifice, stole third and scored on Dick Schofield’s sacrifice fly. Scott Lewis earned his first spring victory.

Rodgers called Schofield’s competition at shortstop with Gary DiSarcina “like a tennis match. It was advantage Schofield today, and tomorrow it might be advantage DiSarcina.” . . . Von Hayes is nine for 16 in his last five games and is batting .389. . . . John Orton’s spring debut will probably be postponed until Monday to protect his once-sore right shoulder. However, Rodgers said Orton still has a chance to replace Lance Parrish as the starting catcher.

In his first appearance since he was struck by a line drive on the inside of his right forearm Wednesday, Bryan Harvey struck out two during the ninth to earn his third save.