BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : Shaken Hudler Delivers Sting

First it was scorpions invading the Tempe Diablo Stadium clubhouse. Then it was a massive swarm of bees, which sent players running for cover in the middle of the Angels’ Cactus League opener against the Oakland Athletics. What’s next, locusts?

When fans scattered in the left-field bleachers in the top of the sixth inning, players thought a fight had erupted. But when shortstop Brian Grebeck and second baseman Rex Hudler made a beeline for the dugout, it was obvious another force was at work: bees. Thousands of them.

Though shaken, Hudler recovered in time to deliver an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning, breaking a tie and giving the Angels a 2-1 victory over the A’s.

Five Angel pitchers, among them starter Mark Langston, combined to limit Oakland to eight hits.

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Dennis Springer’s knuckleball darted and danced Friday, and Angel catcher Jorge Fabregas kept up with each step, a significant achievement considering Fabregas had never caught a knuckleball pitcher before.

Springer, competing for the fifth spot in the Angel rotation, gave up two hits and two walks in two innings but did not give up a run. Fabregas said catching Springer was nerve-racking, but making the job easier was a hybrid glove--sort of a cross between a catcher’s mitt and first baseman’s mitt--that he borrowed from Springer.