Oriole Celebrates, but Angels Take Cake : Baseball: Ripken has birthday and signs big contract. Salmon turns 24 and sparks 5-2 victory.

BALTIMORE — Angel rookie outfielder Tim Salmon and Oriole shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. both celebrated their birthdays Monday, but only one of them received a five-year, $32.5-million contract as a present.

“What will I get? Maybe a $30 check from Grandma,” Salmon said, smiling.

It wasn’t a lucrative 24th birthday, but it was a satisfying one for Salmon, who combined with his onetime college teammate, Chad Curtis, to provide four of the Angels’ nine hits and drive in three runs during a 5-2 victory over Baltimore before a sellout crowd of 44,285 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Salmon, batting fourth, singled twice and drove in the Angels’ first run, and Curtis, hitting fifth, had a two-run single that chased starter Arthur Rhodes (4-4). That made it a little easier for Angel starter Jim Abbott (6-12), who lowered his earned-run average to 2.82 by going 8 2/3 innings.

Abbott has given up three earned runs or fewer in each of his last nine starts and 18 of 23 this season, but he said he didn’t feel especially sharp Monday.

“I wish I could say this was the result of some great pitching on my part, but I just tried to throw strikes and hang on as long as I could,” said Abbott, who is 5-0 against the Orioles in his career.

Of his offensive support, he said: “Tim Salmon seems like the kind of guy who can contribute without having a real big night.

“Tim will get a hit here, a walk there, a sacrifice fly, and his defense is good. And we all know what Chad can do. There are some good things going on here. I’m in no position to judge, but it’s nice to see some young guys coming in here. We’re starting to see excitement and some hustle and enthusiasm.”

At 2,500-student Grand Canyon College, a Baptist school in Phoenix, Curtis batted leadoff and played center field; Salmon played right field and batted third. In 1989, the two combined for 151 runs batted in, and they always spoke of how thrilling it would be to play in the same outfield in the major leagues. They accomplished that Friday, when Salmon was promoted from triple-A Edmonton. Saturday, they played their old positions.

“I played center in that game, and that’s how we were at Grand Canyon,” Curtis said. “It seemed like time stood still.”

But neither has stood idle since joining the Angels. Curtis, who played left field Monday but will probably play more center field the rest of this season and in the future, brought his batting average back up to .245 Monday. Salmon, who has yet to display any sign of rookie jitters, had his second successive two-hit game and is batting .313.

Together, they helped keep the Orioles from narrowing the Blue Jays’ three-game lead atop the AL East.

“We didn’t do anything out there that a championship club has to do tonight,” Oriole Manager Johnny Oates said. “The other team did everything better than we did tonight.”

That was particularly true of the Angels’ defense. A difficult catch at third by Damion Easley helped hold the Orioles to one run in the fourth, and Gary DiSarcina showed good range on the ground balls that abound when Abbott is most effective.

“Everybody in the infield played a great game. I was the beneficiary tonight,” Abbott said.

His teammates were delighted to make things relatively easy for him, for once.

“With Jim pitching, all we’ve got to do is score a couple of runs and we’re going to win,” Curtis said. Despite having fulfilled their dream of making it to the big leagues, Salmon and Curtis are shooting for more.

“We’re still looking to hit back-to-back home runs,” said Salmon, who was chosen by the Angels during the third round of the 1989 amateur draft, 42 rounds before Curtis.

“It’s really neat playing with a player I played with in college. I can remember sitting and talking about it, but I didn’t know we’d be on the same team.”

Salmon wasn’t complaining about being ignored on his birthday. “Cal Ripken congratulated me when I was at second base,” Salmon said. “That about made my day.”