Angels Get Good and Bad News

The Angels couldn’t have packed much more into their 11-9 victory over the Kansas City Royals before 16,687 in Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday night.

They had a season-high 18 hits and rallied from a four-run deficit for their third consecutive come-from-behind victory. There was a spectacular mid-air collision between center fielder Jim Edmonds and Garret Anderson, and another Chili Davis home run.

There were diving catches by outfielders Tim Salmon and Orlando Palmeiro, Angel errors of the physical and mental variety, another subpar start by pitcher Jim Abbott, another save by Troy Percival . . . and, of course, what Angel game would be complete without an injury to a key player?

Edmonds, who came off the disabled list Monday, survived his crash into Anderson while attempting to catch Bob Hamelin’s fourth-inning triple, and his previously strained groin and abdomen held up fine when he scored from second on Salmon’s fifth-inning single.

But his right thumb didn’t fare too well in a seventh-inning collision with Royal pitcher Jeff Granger’s glove on a fluke play that will send Edmonds to the sidelines for several days.

Edmonds chopped a grounder off the plate that Granger fielded near the first base line, and when he applied the tag, Edmonds tried to knock the ball out of his glove, bringing his hands down in a swiping motion.

Edmonds succeeded only in spraining his thumb, which was swollen and discolored by the time the game ended. He was taken to an area hospital for X-rays, which showed no broken bones or torn ligaments. He is listed as day to day.

Edmonds, who thought he might have broken the thumb, called it “a dumb play--I don’t even think it’s legal to do what I tried,” he said. “This hasn’t been a fun two weeks . . . I guess no one wants me around this year.”

The injury clouded another successful night for the Angel offense, which overcame a wildly unsuccessful night for Abbott, who gave up only four hits--two of them ground-ball singles--in five innings but walked six batters, four who eventually scored.

Abbott was charged with seven runs, six of them earned. One run scored when he failed to back up home on a throw, and another scored on his wild pitch.

His earned-run average rose to 7.61, and he is 0-4 with a 13.29 ERA in his last five starts. But his record remained at 1-9, and he did see at least some progress in the fact that he struck out four and faced the minimum three batters in three of his five innings.

“I felt I threw the ball better than I have in the past four games, and from where I am now, small steps of improvement are necessary,” Abbott said. “Walks will kill you in this game, but I wasn’t crazy wild, I was aggressive, and those pitches were close in the zone.

“But it’s a great feeling when you win. It may not be all you want personally, but when everyone is doing well, you keep to yourself, keep working, try to blend in, and stay out of the team’s way.”

Royal starter Tim Belcher did that for three innings, but Davis tagged him for his 12th homer in the fourth, and the Angel barrage was on.

Jorge Fabregas had three hits, including an RBI single in the fourth, and Randy Velarde, Anderson, Salmon, Davis, J.T. Snow and Damion Easley each had two hits. Salmon keyed a four-run fifth with a two-run single, and Rex Hudler’s pinch-hit, RBI double and Easley’s bloop, two-run single accounted for a three-run seventh that snapped a 7-7 tie.

After scoring only 13 runs on 41 hits during a six-game losing streak, the Angels have 26 runs on 48 hits in the last three games. They also gained ground on Texas for the first time since June 1, pulling to within 8 1/2 games.

“I’m starting to see that feeling on the bench like we had last year, that teams aren’t going to hold us down,” Angel batting instructor Rod Carew said. “Earlier this season, it seemed like the guys weren’t sure. But even when we fell behind tonight, there was this feeling we could go ‘bang, bang, bang’ and come back. It’s not like we weren’t trying before . . . . but maybe we were trying too hard.”