Twins Seem to Be Just What Angels Ordered

You say you’ve lost 17 of 22, given up 14 homers in the past four games, fallen behind 28 consecutive times and your once-insurmountable lead in the American League West is looking more surmountable every day. Is that what’s bothering you?

Well, Minnesota has the cure for what ails you. Just take a handful of Twins, go to bed and rest easy. You’ll wake up relaxed, refreshed and in control again.

The Angels reduced their magic number to 14 Saturday night when Tim Salmon’s two-run homer in the seventh inning lifted them to a 6-5 victory over Minnesota in front of a paid crowd of 27,141 in Anaheim Stadium.

“I’ve never been around a magic number before,” Salmon said. “Fourteen? That seems like a lot.”

If the Angels’ starting pitching continues to waver, it will loom large. Saturday, they managed to win on an evening when one of their best starters gave up 10 hits and had a career-high three wild pitches. Chuck Finley, who has been pounded for 26 hits and 19 runs in his last three starts, is obviously feeling the pressure of the Angels’ erratic drive toward the division title.

“Any veteran player can feel like they’re the one who has to step up when things are going bad,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “But that implies that you haven’t been at the maximum level all along. You can try to step it up, but that’s not possible when you’ve already been giving it your best effort.

“And in the course of trying to do too much, you end up not even doing what you are capable of. Tonight, he just kind of got out of the groove and got some balls up.”

Finley sailed through the first four innings as the free-swinging Twins flailed away at a pace that might have made for a two-hour game. And the Angels, meanwhile, were playing Minnesota starter Mike Trombley like a trombone.

In the first inning, Jim Edmonds, mired in a seven-for-58 slump, followed a Damion Easley walk with a single to right, and Chili Davis, hitless in his 10 previous at-bats, drove them home with a double that short-hopped the wall in center. Tony Phillips led off the third with his second homer in as many nights and the Angels were ahead, 3-0.

But the first three Minnesota batters in the fifth singled to center for one run and then the Twins tied the score when the fourth, Chuck Knoblauch, drove in two runs with a single to left.

Knoblauch was caught stealing on a pitchout when he made an awkward slide into second. Shortstop Dick Schofield was able to snag Jorge Fabregas’ high throw and apply the tag to Knoblauch’s back. Knoblauch argued vociferously and was later ejected.

Finley was simply dejected.

He walked Kirby Puckett and Pedro Munoz before getting out of the inning, but yielded back-to-back singles to Scott Leius and Matt Walbeck leading off the sixth. Leius scored on Finley’s second wild pitch and the Angels trailed for the 29th consecutive game.

But the Twins’ charity is bountiful these days and the Angels tied the score in the bottom of the inning with an unearned run after Pat Meares mishandled Salmon’s grounder. Two outs and a walk to Fabregas later, Spike Owen lined a pinch-hit single to center to tie the score again.

Jeff Reboulet gave the Twins a 5-4 lead with a leadoff homer off the left-field foul pole in the seventh. That was it for Finley, but not the Angels. Edmonds led off the bottom of the inning with his third hit of the night and Salmon extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games with a rocket into the seats in deep left.

Rich Monteleone, who retired the Twins in order after Reboulet’s homer in the seventh, earned his first victory since 1994 when he was with San Francisco and Lee Smith got his 33rd save.

“We got outplayed, outhit and outmanaged,” Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly said.