Angels Build Lead, Don’t Blow It, 20-4 : Baseball: They score 11 runs in the first inning, then pull away from the Rangers. Edmonds extends his hitting streak to 23 games.

No need to grab a magnifying glass and turn to the back pages of the sports section for a recap of the Angels’ 11-run first inning in their 20-4 rout of Texas on Thursday.

Here it is on the front page.

Take a deep breath, ready, begin.

Tony Phillips walked, Jim Edmonds reached on an infield single, Greg Myers reached on a fielder’s choice, Tim Salmon was hit by a pitch, J.T. Snow popped up, Garret Anderson walked, Spike Owen singled, Jorge Fabregas singled, Gary DiSarcina reached on an infield hit, Phillips singled, Edmonds singled, Myers walked, Salmon reached on an error, Snow tripled and Anderson grounded out.

The totals: 15 batters, 11 runs, seven hits, two errors, one left on base.

The Angels didn’t stop there, however, recording a major league high for runs this season and setting a 1995 team best with 21 hits.

Texas had never given up 20 runs in a game.

“No, I’ve never played on a team that scored 20 runs before,” Edmonds said. “Not too many football teams either.”

Edmonds went four for seven with three runs batted in, extending his hitting streak to 23 games in and tying Colorado’s Dante Bichette for the longest streak in the majors this season.

He’s also two games shy of the club record, set by Rod Carew in 1982.

“You get seven at-bats, you gotta get some hits,” Edmonds said. “I’ve hit twice in an inning before, but I don’t think I’ve had two hits in the same inning before.”

Edmonds wasn’t the only one battering Texas starter Roger Pavlik (4-3) and three relievers.

Salmon put the finishing touches on a blistering series against the Rangers by narrowly missing a three-run homer and singling. First base umpire John Shulock initially signaled a homer on Salmon’s opposite-field drive to right in the sixth.

But after a few moments of discussion with Texas Manager Johnny Oates and the other umpires, Shulock ruled the ball had not cleared fence but had been knocked back in play by the glove of right fielder Mickey Tettleton.

By then it hardly seemed to matter.

Over the course of three games at the Ballpark in Arlington, Salmon went 10 for 13 with three homers, one triple and six RBIs.

Gary DiSarcina went four for five Thursday and J.T. Snow added his three-run triple in the first. Snow’s drive to left was only a few feet short of landing in the stands for a grand slam.

“We just kept scoring runs,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “When you’re swinging the bat well, the last thing you want to do is back off. When you get in trouble is when you score runs early then back off.”

With an 11-run head start, the Angels couldn’t possibly blow this one, could they?

Left-hander Chuck Finley, who always seems to struggle in Texas, was coming off a complete game at Seattle on Saturday. He gave up a three-run homer to Edgar Martinez in the sixth, however, and lost to Randy Johnson, 3-2.

Surely, 11 runs would take the edge off for Finley, who was 3-4 with a 5.40 earned-run average in his career at Arlington.

Not entirely. He seemed to be struggling early, perhaps having grown stiff during the 41-minute top of the first inning. Finley, 6-6 with a 3.15 ERA, gave up four runs and six hits in the first two innings.

Juan Gonzalez had a run-scoring single in the first. Ivan Rodriguez led off the second with a bases-empty homer and Will Clark added a two-run single and suddenly an 11-run lead was down to seven runs.

If that sounds safe, remember the Angels led, 8-2, Wednesday before the Rangers rallied for a 9-8 victory. On Tuesday the Angels also led, 4-0, but lost, 10-6, to Texas.

“They still looked like they weren’t going to quit,” Lachemann said. “Once we got [Finley] through five, Russ [Springer] came in and did a real good job.”

In one of the game’s quirks, Springer picked up his first save of the season, meeting the “at least three effective innings” clause in the criteria for earning a save.

Sure, there wasn’t much to save, what with the Angels ahead by 17-4 when Springer entered the game in the sixth, but he struck out two and walked one batter in four hitless innings of relief.

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Blazing Start

A recap of the Angels’ first inning Thursday night at Texas: * Tony Phillips walked.

* Jim Edmonds singled to second.

* Greg Myers forced Edmonds at second.

* Tim Salmon was hit by a pitch.

* J.T. Snow popped out to second.

* On Ivan Rodriguez’s passed ball, Phillips scored.

* Garret Anderson walked.

* Spike Owen singled to left, Myers and Salmon scoring.

* Jorge Fabregas singled to right, Anderson scoring.

* Gary DiSarcina singled to third, Owen scoring, Fabregas going to third on third baseman Luis Ortiz’s throwing error.

* Phillips singled to right, Fabregas scoring.

* Dennis Cook relieved Roger Pavlik. Edmonds singled to left, DiSarcina scoring.

* Myers walked, loading the bases.

* Salmon safe on Ortiz’s fielding error, Phillips scoring.

* Snow tripled to left, Edmonds, Myers and Salmon scoring.

* Anderson grounded to second.

11 runs, 7 hits, 2 errors, 1 left.