Angels Don’t Put Up a Fight : Baseball: Orioles score five in the third inning against Langston and breeze to an 11-2 victory behind Erickson.

The Angels gave the Baltimore Orioles the silent treatment Friday night--the paid crowd of 26,960 in Anaheim Stadium sat quietly throughout the evening, and there was hardly a peep from Angel bats.

In one of their more listless offensive performances of the season, the Angels managed only six hits against the Orioles’ Scott Erickson and lost, 11-2.

The Orioles scored five runs against starter Mark Langston in the third inning, and the Angels missed a chance to increase their 8 1/2-game lead in the American League West over Texas, which lost to Kansas City on Friday night.

Baltimore’s third inning was reminiscent of Langston’s worst start of his career, when the left-hander gave up eight runs on six hits in a third of an inning against the New York Yankees on June 4.

To put the Orioles’ outburst in perspective, five runs was the most Langston had given up in any of his 22 other games besides the fateful Yankee start. He had also won eight consecutive decisions in Anaheim Stadium, dating to Aug. 3, 1994.

But Baltimore, taking advantage of a rare touch of wildness by Langston, sent 10 players to the plate during the third, which was highlighted by Rafael Palmeiro’s three-run home run that landed deep in the right-field bullpen.

Brady Anderson opened the inning with an infield single but was erased on Jeff Huson’s fielder’s choice. Cal Ripken walked, and Bobby Bonilla doubled to left for one run.

Palmeiro, the first baseman who entered with a career .302 average and 19 homers against the Angels, followed with his 29th home run of the season, bringing his RBI total to 82.

Chris Hoiles, who homered twice against the Angels on Thursday night, walked, which brought pitching Coach Chuck Hernandez to the mound. Langston averages less than two walks per game, and his free pass to Hoiles was his fourth.

Langston recovered to strike out Jeff Manto for the second out, but Mark Smith singled to left and Bret Barberie singled to center for a rally-capping RBI before Anderson grounded out to end an inning in which Langston threw 36 pitches.

Langston, who entered with a 13-2 record and 4.09 earned-run average, found his rhythm in the fourth inning and retired the next seven batters until Barberie doubled to right and Anderson singled to center, scoring Barberie to make it 6-1 in the sixth, Langston’s final inning.

The Angels scored in the bottom of the third when Damion Easley singled to left, Greg Myers singled to center, and Jose Lind singled to left, snapping an 0-for-13 slump and giving him his first RBI as an Angel.

Lind, who signed with the Angels July 24, last knocked in a run on May 14 as a member of the Royals--against the Angels.

The Angels still had two on and none out after Lind’s hit, but the rally died when Tony Phillips struck out, Jim Edmonds bounced into a fielder’s choice and Tim Salmon flied to right against Erickson.

Though Erickson entered with an 8-1 career record against the Angels, three Angels entered with .400 or better lifetime averages against the right-hander, and Phillips had hit .351 with four homers against him.

But Erickson opened the game by retiring six in a row and, outside of the third inning, the Angels mounted no scoring threats. The Orioles added two runs in the eighth on Anderson’s RBI double and Huson’s sacrifice fly off reliever John Habyan.

Mark Smith’s three-run home run in the ninth off Mike Butcher was his first major league homer and made it 11-1.

Edmonds hit his 30th home run in the bottom of the ninth.

Ripken extended his consecutive games streak to 2,120 games, 10 short of Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130.

An Oriole official said President Clinton is trying to rearrange his schedule so he can attend the record-breaking game Sept. 6 against the Angels in Baltimore’s Camden Yards. It would be the 12th presidential visit to an Oriole game since 1979.