Bullpen Picks Up Slack After Langston Hurt : Angels: He leaves after three, but Crim gets victory over Tigers.

The Angels’ 7-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers, in front of 18,816 Sunday at Anaheim Stadium, simply doesn’t fit into a nice neat package. There were too many subplots for one compact highlight reel.

For starters, Angel pitcher Mark Langston, superb in throwing a three-hitter on opening day, injured a muscle in his rib cage and left the game after three lousy innings. It was difficult to know whether Langston would have lasted much longer even without the strained muscle.

“I had people in good position and didn’t put them away,” said Langston, who gave up four runs and seven hits. “Two or three times, I had two strikes on a guy, but left (a pitch) too far over the plate.”

Langston said he felt a sharp pain in his left side in the first inning and finally told Manager Buck Rodgers about it after the third. Rodgers brought in Chuck Crim to start the fourth.

“I can’t remember when it happened exactly, but it got progressively worse,” said Langston, who will be examined again Tuesday and may still be able to make his next scheduled start Friday at Baltimore.

After Langston’s early departure, Rodgers’ bullpen came through with solid work.

Crim, Gene Nelson, Steve Frey and Joe Grahe held the Tigers to two runs and four hits over the final six innings. Crim, who gave up two hits and one run in pitching the fourth and fifth, picked up the victory, his first. Grahe earned his first save.

“We got to see the whole bullpen in the last two games,” Rodgers said. “I feel a whole lot better about it than I did 24 hours ago. They were outstanding in keeping us in the ballgame last night and doing the same today.”

On a day when nothing came easily, Grahe gave up a ninth-inning solo home run to Scott Livingstone. Suddenly, a 7-5 lead was 7-6, with pinch-hitter Kirk Gibson coming up.

Grahe quickly ran the count to 3 and 2 before getting Gibson to ground out to end the game. First baseman J.T. Snow made a diving stop and a quick flip to Grahe covering to get Gibson.

It was that kind of game.

Sunday’s surprises went beyond strong Angel relief pitching.

Center fielder Chad Curtis, suffering through a 1-for-12 start, had a career-best four hits, including a run-scoring single in the eighth that proved to be the game-winning run.

In the second, Curtis knocked in Gary DiSarcina with a single that gave the Angels a 4-1 lead. It might have been more, but Curtis overran third base on an infield single by designated hitter Gary Gaetti for the inning’s final out. That spoiled a bases-loaded situation.

Detroit rallied with three runs in the third and went ahead, 5-4, on Dan Gladden’s sacrifice fly in the fourth. The Angels took the lead for good with two runs in the fifth. Rene Gonzales’ hit-and-run single to right field scored Tim Salmon and Snow squeezed home Gaetti with a perfectly executed bunt.

“It’s something I’ve always been able to do,” Snow said. “I take a lot of pride in it. One thing Buck said during the spring was that we need to do the little things to win. It was a fastball up. You just try to catch the ball with your bat. You don’t want to get too cute with it, just get it down.”

Curtis came through with his fourth hit, Grahe survived the ninth and the Angels left for their first trip of the season--three games in Milwaukee and three in Baltimore--with a 3-2 record.

“We hustled a few of those runs today,” Rodgers said. “The bottom line is we executed and they didn’t. Our guys put the ball in play on the hit-and-run and their guys popped up or fouled it off. Gonzales executed very well on the hit-and-run and Snow got the squeeze down to put us ahead again.”