Orioles’ Mussina Is Caught by Salmon’s Slam : Baseball: Angel right fielder ties score with his second career grand slam and third home run in seven games.

It wasn’t the marine layer creeping over the top of Anaheim Stadium and settling down on the field Monday night that gave Mike Mussina that uneasy feeling of impending doom just before 8 p.m.

The Oriole ace had just given up singles to Gary DiSarcina and Tony Phillips and walked Jim Edmonds on four pitches. He was working with a four-run lead in the third inning, but Tim Salmon was the next batter.

It’s not that Salmon hits Mussina like a pitching machine. He came into the game batting only .261 against him. But of Salmon’s six hits, three were home runs.

So Salmon made it four of seven, sending a 2-and-1 delivery 410 feet over the fence in straightaway center and putting the Angels back in a position to win for the ninth time in the last 11 games.

“He’s the type of pitcher who isn’t afraid to challenge you,” Salmon said. “I’m not sure if that’s what he had in mind this time, but it was right down the middle.

“I knew I got good wood on it, but it felt like I hit it straight up. It was kind of foggy and I wasn’t sure how well the ball would carry. I just kept my eyes on [center fielder Andy] Van Slyke, to see if he was going to stop. He finally stopped at the wall.”

It was Salmon’s second career grand slam and his third homer in the last seven games.

“He hits home runs, that’s what he does,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said, smiling.

Lachemann moved Salmon, who was struggling earlier this season, up from the No. 5 spot to third in the order on May 19. With Chili Davis waiting in the on-deck circle, Salmon is feasting on fastballs for a change.

“There’s no question that you see better pitches,” Salmon said. “Especially with Chili and J.T. [Snow] swinging the bat the way they are. You get a right-handed pitcher who looks at those two coming up and he decides he better go after the right-handed hitter before those two lefties.

“They just seem to be in the strike zone a lot more, which is really good for me because I have a tendency to get myself out sometimes.”

Lately, he hasn’t been getting himself out and opposing pitchers haven’t been able to accomplish the feat very often either. Salmon, who also had a single to center Monday night, is hitting .389 with 11 runs batted in since he started batting third. And he’s improved his average from .229 to .283 in the 10 games since the switch.

“I’m starting to figure it out again,” said Salmon, who hit 31 homers during his rookie-of-the-year season in 1993 and 23 in the strike-shortened 1994 season. “My approach when no one is on base is to keep it slow and go with the pitches. That’s when the home runs seem to come. It’s better if I don’t try to hit home runs.”

OK, maybe, just for Salmon, we can call it a not-so-grand slam.