One Hit Goes Only So Far for Angels : Baseball: They get to extra innings on Oberkfell’s RBI single, but lose to Red Sox in 10th.

When the bottom of the ninth ended in the Angels’ game against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday with Junior Felix striking out for the fourth time, the Angels had only one hit on the scoreboard.

And they were still playing.

In the dugout, Angel Manager Buck Rodgers turned to Marcel Lachemann, his pitching coach. “How many times do you get a chance to go to extra innings when you have one hit?”

Danny Darwin held the Angels to one run and one hit over nine innings, but the Angels’ defense squelched Boston’s bases-loaded threat in the ninth to preserve a tie.

The Red Sox won when Scott Cooper--already four for four--came up with the bases loaded in the 10th and drove Scott Bailes’ 3-and-1 pitch to the left-center field gap for a three-run double.

Cooper’s fifth hit led to a 4-2 Angel loss before 22,421 at Anaheim Stadium after the Angels managed a run in the 10th.

Boston had plenty of hits in the first nine innings, but only one run, as Angel starter Jim Abbott held them to six hits over seven innings.

He had a 1-0 lead after the fifth, when Ken Oberkfell got the only hit against Darwin, a single up the middle that drove in Chad Curtis. Curtis got to second on Luis Rivera’s wild throw on a grounder to short.

It has sometimes seemed that Abbott--who has been given an average of 2.4 runs during his starts--needs to shut out the other team in order to win this season. That turned out to be the case again.

Abbott ended up with no decision after Boston tied the score during the seventh on back-to-back doubles. The first was Cooper’s bad-hop grounder to second that skipped over Oberkfell and into the outfield. The second, by Rivera, bounced on the warning track. Curtis, the right fielder, was playing shallow--Rivera was batting .218 and without a homer--and couldn’t catch up to Rivera’s drive.

“Chad made a good effort,” Rodgers said. “You’re not going to play him on the warning track, not Luis Rivera.”

Abbott, unsuccessful in seeking his seventh victory, lowered his earned-run average to 2.76.

“Earned-run average, those are all stats,” Abbott said. “The bottom line is whether you win or lose.

“It is frustrating. What can you do? Danny Darwin pitched a great ballgame.”

Darwin (7-6) had nine strikeouts, and might have come back out for the 10th inning had Boston not scored.

“Both pitchers pitched well,” Rodgers said. “You hate to see either one get beat.”

Darwin might have won it in nine except for the Angels’ defensive stand. Reliever Chuck Crim loaded the bases with one out on three consecutive singles, with Rob Ducey’s throw from left on the third single strong enough to keep the runner at third.

Wade Boggs hit a chopper to shortstop Gary DiSarcina, who made a leaping grab and threw home for the force. Then third baseman Damion Easley made a diving stab of Jody Reed’s liner.

Cooper, a left-handed hitter who usually plays only against right-handers, handled Abbott.

“I’d never faced him, but I’d seen him make a lot of people look bad, embarrass a lot of people,” Cooper said. “I didn’t want him to embarrass me.”

Then he doubled against Bailes, another left-hander, on in relief of Mike Butcher (2-2).

Angel Attendance

Sunday: 22,421

1992 (61 dates): 1,638,204

1991 (61 dates): 1,914,892

Decrease: 276,688

1992 average: 26,856