Langston Could Be Friday’s Starter

Mark Langston’s rehab start was a rousing success and he could be Friday’s starting pitcher against Baltimore if there is no swelling on his surgically repaired right knee today.

Langston, who underwent surgery for torn cartilage on May 8, pitched four innings, giving up three hits with five strikeouts for Class A Lake Elsinore against Rancho Cucamonga on Sunday. He did not give up a walk or a run and pitched one more inning than originally planned.

Dr. Lewis Yocum will examine Langston’s knee again today and if he likes what he sees, Langston will be back in the rotation Friday. He was expected to sit out six to eight weeks, but could return in only 23 days.

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Center fielder Jim Edmonds, sidelined Sunday because of a groin strain and pulled stomach muscle, spent three innings watching from the Angel bullpen beyond left field. If he wasn’t going to play, he figured he might as well get a different perspective on the ballgame.

“When I went down there I told Chili [Davis] to hit me a home run,” Edmonds said. “And he hits the ball down the right-field line [for a two-run homer in the fifth inning]. Then I walked in to sit on the trainer’s table and [Rex] Hudler hits one to left.”

Edmonds will probably sit out tonight’s game against the New York Yankees while recovering from his injury, suffered when he tried to chase Mo Vaughn’s ninth-inning homer Saturday.

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Yocum will check right-hander Steve Ontiveros, sidelined since spring training because of elbow trouble, today. It’s possible Ontiveros could make a rehab start this week, or he could throw another simulated game. He has thrown two since Wednesday. . . . Tim Wallach and Tim Salmon each had a season-high three RBIs. . . . J.T. Snow’s eight-inning single ended a 0-for-8 drought against the Red Sox and was his first hit in 15 at-bats.