Not All Are Losers in Angels’ Defeat : Baseball: They fall to Twins, 4-3, but draft pick Anderson impresses Rodgers after retiring 13 of final 14 batters he faces.

For Angel Manager Buck Rodgers, Thursday was a day of mixed emotions.

The Angels lost to the Minnesota Twins, 4-3, dropping their fifth consecutive one-run decision. But Rodgers got a solid performance from Brian Anderson, the third overall pick in the June draft. Anderson gave up three runs and seven hits through six innings, but he retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.

“One-run losses are no consolation,” Rodgers said. “We’d sure like to finish fifth, but it’s not our main priority. Seeing the call-ups is what’s important.”

Of Anderson, called up this month, Rodgers said: “He showed a lot of poise. He didn’t get wild. He didn’t get shook. He didn’t overthrow. He’s just a few months out of college and he kept us in the game.”

The Angels became losers after David McCarty bunted to reach first, stole second, went to third on Chuck Knoblauch’s single against John Farrell (3-12) and scored on Jeff Reboulet’s grounder.

The Twins passed the Angels and moved into fifth place in the American League West.

McCarty said he bunted because Angel third baseman Rene Gonzales was playing him too deeply. “The guy was playing me in the outfield,” McCarty said. “I knew that if I just got it down, it was a hit.”

Greg Brummett (2-1) gave up seven hits in a career-high 7 2/3 innings, helping Minnesota to its first six-game winning streak of the season. Rick Aguilera pitched the ninth for his 34th save.

Minnesota completed its first four-game home sweep of the Angels since August of 1966. Brummett was aided by a defense that turned three double plays, threw out a runner trying to stretch a single into a double and threw out another runner trying to steal.

In the Twins’ second, Brian Harper tripled and scored on a single by Pedro Munoz. On Anderson’s next two pitches, Bernardo Brito singled and McCarty doubled. Terry Jorgensen followed with a run-scoring grounder.

The Angels made it 3-1 in the third on Torey Lovullo’s double and Stan Javier’s single. J.T. Snow’s 14th homer of the season, a two-run shot in the sixth, tied it.