Angels Called on the Carpet : Baseball: Sanderson’s bad outing, two errors prove costly in 9-6 loss to Twins.

The Angels rolled a first-place team, a pitching staff with the major league’s lowest earned-run average and a defense that hadn’t committed an error in five games onto the Metrodome carpet Monday night and promptly had the rug pulled from under them.

Right-hander Scott Sanderson was bombed for six runs in 3 2/3 innings by a Minnesota team that has the worst record in the American League, and the usually sure-handed Angels committed two errors in a 9-6 loss to the Twins before a paltry 9,407.

And it all came one day after the Angels played perhaps their finest game of the season, Sunday’s 8-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

“It’s baseball, you’re not going to play good every night,” said Angel outfielder Tony Phillips, ejected after angrily challenging a called third strike in the fifth inning. “I like to look at the positive part. We were down and fought back. That shows the heart of this team.”

Trailing, 7-3, going into the eighth inning, Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann made the strategic move that figured to spark his team--he had Mike Butcher warm up in the bullpen.

Every time Butcher enters a game, the Angels seem to win. The right-hander has a league-leading four victories in only seven innings this season and threw only two pitches to earn his last win Friday at Kansas City.

Sure enough, the Angels rallied for three runs in the eighth on Chili Davis’ single, Tim Salmon’s walk, J.T. Snow’s RBI double and Spike Owen’s pinch-hit, two-run single to cut the lead to 7-6.

Gary DiSarcina flew to left and Garret Anderson struck out to end the inning. Butcher came out to pitch the bottom of the eighth, but there was nothing doing this time.

After retiring the first two batters, Kirby Puckett lined a home run deep into the left-field bleachers and Jerald Clark, who had three hits and two RBIs, tripled off the right-field wall.

Mitch Williams replaced Butcher and threw 10 pitches. Only two were strikes. He walked two batters and threw a wild pitch, allowing Clark to score to make it 9-6, a big enough cushion for even the Twins, who have the worst ERA in baseball.

Rick Aguilera pitched the final 1 1/3 innings for the save, and Scott Erickson (1-3) went 6 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs, seven hits and striking out six.

Sanderson, who entered with the American League’s fourth-best ERA (2.08), dropped to 1-2.

“It was a bad night--I didn’t get away with too many mistakes,” said Sanderson, who allowed a double and home run to the Twins’ No. 9 hitter, catcher Matt Walbeck. “I had real good location to a lot of guys, but the ones I had bad location against hurt me.”

Phillips wasn’t pleased with the location of home-plate umpire John Hirschbeck’s strike zone. He argued a called third strike in the third inning and another in the fifth, and after he was tossed from the game he looked like he wanted to drive-block Hirschbeck into the backstop.

It took Lachemann, first base coach Joe Maddon and first base umpire Jim Evans--to restrain Phillips before he was finally escorted off the field.

“You get that angry, you snap, which is good for me,” Phillips said. “I need this, because I don’t like playing happy. I treat every game like it’s my last, like I’m trying to put food on the table for my family.

“I don’t know why some guys can just go out and play. That’s not the frame of mind I can use and be successful . . . It’s a long year, we’ll be having this conversation again, I guarantee you.”

Minnesota scored four runs in the third inning on back-to-back doubles by Walbeck and Chuck Knoblauch, Puckett’s sacrifice fly, Clark’s RBI double and an RBI single by Marty Cordova, who played at Orange Coast College.

Jim Edmonds’ two-run homer to center in the fourth made it 4-2, but Walbeck, who had three hits, tagged Sanderson for a bases-empty home run to center in the fourth. After Easley’s error--his first of the season--and an intentional walk to Puckett, Clark singled to left to push the lead to 6-2, ending Sanderson’s night.

“We made too many mistakes pitching-wise,” Lachemann said. “You can’t do that because this team has been scoring runs and they’ll continue to score runs.”