He’s a Different Pitcher Than Five Weeks Ago : Baseball: Texas’ Pavlik, bombarded by the Angels on June 29, has no trouble with them this time, 5-2.

It’s safe to say that Roger Pavlik had a better outing Sunday against the Angels than he did the last time he faced them.

Pavlik, who gave up seven runs in two-thirds of an inning of a 20-4 loss to the Angels on June 29, held them scoreless until the eighth inning Sunday in Texas’ 5-2 victory.

“For four years here, everyone’s been telling him that he can’t do it,” said Johnny Oates, the Ranger manager. “I’ve told him, ‘It’s what we expect.’ I also told him that if he gets into a good streak, we’ll just leave him alone and let him do it his way.”

Pavlik’s way apparently doesn’t include explanations. For the third start in a row, he declined to talk to reporters after the game. In those three games, Pavlik (6-6) has given up only three runs in 22 2/3 innings, though he had to settle for no-decisions in the prior two outings.

Texas took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Lou Frazier bunted for a single and scored on a double by Will Clark. Luis Ortiz followed with an RBI single.

Brian Anderson (6-3) then kept the Rangers scoreless until the seventh, when Jeff Frye led off with a walk and took second base on Esteban Beltre’s sacrifice before scoring on a double by Otis Nixon. Frazier beat out a roller to short as Nixon held second, and the two engineered a double steal before Clark’s sacrifice fly made it 4-0. Frye added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Pavlik came within four outs of being the first pitcher to shut out the Angels since May 2--the sixth game of the season. The Angels began the day averaging 6.3 runs a game, but were unable to break through until Spike Owen’s RBI double with two outs in the eighth inning.

“One day we rock him, the next he shoves the bats down our throats,” said California’s Rod Correia, who owned one of the two infield singles that comprised the Angels’ offense through five innings. “That’s baseball.

Despite losing for the third time in four games, the Angels still have a 10-game lead over Texas in the AL West.

“There is still a long way to go,” said Clark, who drove in two runs with a first-inning double and seventh-inning sacrifice fly. “The nice thing is, we’re playing within the division now, so you can pick up games real quick.”