Angels Capitalize on Break : Baseball: Bad hop provides breakthrough in 12-7 comeback victory over Rangers.

The crowd groaned the moment it left Chili Davis’ bat in the eighth inning Saturday night. It was a routine double-play ball. It appeared that it not only would end the Angels’ inning, but cost them another game.

While everyone dreaded the inevitable, Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina sat calmly in the dugout, smiling.

“This field may look beautiful,” DiSarcina said after the Angels’ 12-7 victory over the Texas Rangers at Anaheim Stadium, “but once you’re on it, it can get pretty ugly.”

The ball bounced once . . . twice . . . and just when Texas shortstop Esteban Beltre waited for the ball to reach his glove . . . the ball bounced wildly over his head into left field.

“It was the most beautfiful hop I’ve ever seen,” Angel third baseman Spike Owen said.

The bad hop not only produced two runs, enabling the Angels to overcome a 7-5 deficit, but triggered a seven-run inning that allowed them to win for only the second time in six games. Russ Springer (2-1) pitched the final two innings for the victory; Cris Carpenter (2-5) was the loser.

The Angels (32-43) moved to within 2 1/2 games of the Rangers in the American League West with the victory and left Texas Manager Kevin Kennedy screaming into the night.

“I have no idea what happened,” Kennedy said. “Each loss is tougher to take than the one before. I can’t even describe the feeling.

“I’ve never felt like this before, for this long, in my life.”

Yet, don’t look to Davis for sympathy, who claims that Kennedy got what he deserved. Kennedy made the mistake of intentionally walking Tim Salmon to get to Davis, and Davis made him pay the price.

“I love beating up on Kevin Kennedy,” Davis said. “He disrespected me. I take it personally when somebody walks somebody to get to me.

“Come on, you’re going to walk somebody to get to me?

“As soon as he did it, I saw him look up and pray, and say, ‘Please, make it work.’ ”

The bad hop gave the Angels an 8-7 lead, and by the time the inning ended, Beltre committed a throwing error, Greg Myers had his second hit of the inning, and J.T. Snow had a three-run homer.

“Tonight’s game sort of reminded me of the (April 15) Toronto game,” DiSarcina said, “in which we came back (with seven runs) in the night. No one wanted to be the one to make the last out. The enthusiasm on the bench was incredible.”

It was this enthusiasm, Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann said, that had been missing this last week. It is why he decided to play left fielder Rex Hudler and second baseman Harold Reynolds, benching Chad Curtis and Damion Easley.

“I was just trying to get a little more life,” Lachemann said, “get a little more energy into the game.”

Lachemann’s best move, however, was taking a bit of advice from childhood pal Sparky Anderson, manager of the Detroit Tigers. Anderson told him that he might not be best utilizing Bo Jackson’s talents.

“He told me, ‘When you’ve got a guy like that, you got to get one chance to use him,’ ” Lachemann said. “This was our chance.”

The Angels had runners on first and third with one out when Jackson was summoned. Kennedy countered with Carpenter, who got ahead with two quick strikes. But on a 1-2 pitch, Jackson bounced a ball into the right-field seats.

The rally was under way.

It’s too early to tell the repercussions it will have on the Angels. They want to believe it will be the play that turns around their season.

“We don’t have that confidence, that arrogance that a lot of teams have,” DiSarcina said, “and we have to get it back.

“Maybe this will be the thing that does it.