Langston Could Make Return to Mound Friday

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

Langston, who underwent surgery to repair torn cartilage May 8, pitched four innings Sunday, giving up three hits with five strikeouts for Class A Lake Elsinore against Rancho Cucamonga. 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 initially expected to miss six to eight weeks, but could return in only 23 days.

*

Center fielder Jim Edmonds, sidelined Sunday because of a groin strain and a pulled stomach muscle, spent three innings watching from the Angel bullpen in 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 Hudler hits one to left.”

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

“When I woke up this morning, I was pretty pleased I could walk,” he said. “I won’t be fighting with the manager [to play] that’s for sure. Tuesday, maybe.”

*

Yocum today will check right-hander Steve Ontiveros, sidelined since spring training because of elbow trouble. It’s possible Ontiveros could make a rehab start some time this week. Or he could throw another simulated game. He has thrown two since last Wednesday. . . . Manager Marcel Lachemann has not yet given up on erratic right-hander Jason Grimsley, who will be given another start on Tuesday. Grimsley was superb in pitching 6 1/3 no-hit innings May 4 against Minnesota, but hasn’t been able to get past the fourth inning in his past two starts. . . . Tim Wallach and Tim Salmon each had a season-high three runs batted in. . . . J.T. Snow’s eighth-inning single ended an 0-for-8 drought against the Red Sox and was his first hit in his last 15 at-bats.