Split for Angels; 2,000 Hits For Davis

Sitting in the Angels’ dugout after hitting a three-run homer, Tim Salmon watched Chili Davis loft a single down the left-field line Monday.

Salmon’s teammates leaped to their feet, shouting, clapping and exchanging high fives. He wondered what the fuss was all about. It looked like simply another hit for Davis.

It was and it wasn’t.

Salmon and 24,469 at Comiskey Park had just witnessed Davis’ 2,000th career hit. It would have made for a better story if the game hinged on Davis’ sixth-inning single in the second game of Monday’s doubleheader.

But Salmon and J.T. Snow had already hit three-run homers and the Angels earned a split with the White Sox, winning the second game, 6-4, after losing the first, 4-2.

“When they were all up cheering, I thought it was because he wouldn’t get shut out for the doubleheader,” Salmon said. “I thought the guys were just giving him a hard time. Then [Mark Langston] said, ‘It’s his 2,000th.’

“It didn’t click. I mean, I knew it was coming up. It seemed like I read about it. Or saw it on the scoreboard last week. Maybe somebody mentioned it.

“I guess I’m pretty naive about these things.”

When Davis returned to the dugout, hitting coach Rod Carew was among the first to greet him.

“He was really pumped,” Davis said. “In Milwaukee, he said, ‘C’mon man, get that hit. I want to write all over the ball.’ ”

Davis had gone hitless in 15 at-bats since reaching career hit No. 1,999 Thursday against the Brewers.

“You sit by him and what he’s accomplished makes a lot of things you do feel not so big,” Davis said of Carew, who had 3,053 hits in his 19-year major league career. “I think the last few years of having him as my hitting instructor helped me reach this milestone.

“It’s a milestone and it’s been reached. Now, it’s time to go on. Maybe, I’ll set another milestone [tonight]--2,002 hits.”

Davis’ single, the homers by Salmon and Snow, Ryan Hancock’s victory in his first major league start and Troy Percival’s 21st save had the Angels feeling good about themselves again.

Game 1 left them sour, and with good reason.

Starter Jason Grimsley was superb, throwing three-hit ball for 7 1/3 innings. The Angels gained a hard-earned 2-0 lead against Chicago starter Wilson Alvarez, then couldn’t finish what they started.

The White Sox rallied for four runs in the eighth inning, leaving the Angels groping for answers. They seemed to have Alvarez in trouble several times, but couldn’t land a knockout blow.

Grimsley had terrific movement on his pitches and the White Sox hammered them into the ground or popped them up for easy outs. He retired the first 12 he faced before giving up a single to center by Robin Ventura to start the fifth.

“I just threw fastballs where I wanted to,” Grimsley said. “I kept the ball down and they hit it on the ground. I don’t have to be perfect with it. I’ve just got to put it in the general spot I want.”

Pitching so well for so long was small consolation, though. A superb outing, among his best as an Angel, turned into an unsightly mess in the pivotal eighth.

A leadoff walk to Dave Martinez to open the inning troubled Grimsley most of all.

“That’s the one mistake I did make and it’s the mistake that wound up costing us the game,” Grimsley said.

Grimsley was probably being too tough on himself. For the second consecutive game, the bullpen perfected the art of the late-inning collapse with inherited runners on base.

Sunday in Milwaukee, relievers Rich Monteleone and Chuck McElroy were the culprits in a seventh-inning blowup that turned a 3-3 game into an eventual 8-4 victory for the Brewers.

This time, McElroy did his job, retiring the only batter he faced. But Mike James (4-3) gave up two-run singles to pinch-hitter Chad Kreuter and center fielder Darren Lewis with two outs. James faced four batters and all four reached base.

Roberto Hernandez then pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 21st save.

The Angels seemed ripe to be swept, starting the second game in listless fashion. Hancock, 3-0 with a 1.84 earned-run average, was shaky and the offense punchless against Chicago’s Mike Sirotka (0-1).

With the Angels trailing, 2-0, in the fifth, Snow jolted them to life with a three-run homer off Sirotka. Salmon followed with his three-run homer an inning later and the Angels had a 6-2 lead.

“His was the biggest,” Salmon said of Snow’s ninth homer. “It got us the lead and woke us up. It was a great lift.”