Angels Make Up Ground

The last thing the Angels expected early Monday night was for closer Troy Percival to get close to the mound in the Ballpark at Arlington.

The first-place Texas Rangers, those free-swingers who lead the American League in hitting, feasted on shell-shocked starter Ryan Hancock, whose line for hits, runs and earned runs given up in the first two innings would have looked great on a slot machine--7-7-7--but was an eyesore for the Angels.

But Percival, just to be safe, kept drinking his coffee--seven cups a day is his norm--and kept to his usual routine and sure enough, there he was in the ninth inning, slamming the door on an improbable 10-7 Angel victory before a stunned 45,655.

Rookie pitchers Mike Holtz (three innings) and Jeff Schmidt (two innings) did not give up a run in relief, and the Angels took advantage of the house of cards that is the Ranger bullpen, scoring six runs in the seventh inning to pull to within 8 1/2 games of Texas.

The comeback from seven runs behind tied an Angel record for largest deficit overcome, achieved in 1994 and 1986, and was the third time this season the Rangers, who are off to the best start in team history, have blown a seven-run lead.

“That’s the crazy thing about baseball,” said center fielder Darin Erstad, who had a key RBI triple in the seventh. “It really is never over until it’s over. It’s what makes the game fun.”

Not for the Rangers, whose lead over Seattle dwindled to two games. Texas has two more blown saves (nine) than saves (seven) since June 1.

Middle relief has also been a sore spot for the Angels for most of the season, but it was a strength Monday night.

“I can’t say enough about the job Holtz and Schmidt did,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “They stopped the bleeding. We scrapped and fought, and some of our hits weren’t the prettiest in the world, but we really worked hard.”

Like Saturday’s 8-6 victory over Seattle, the Angels used a fluke hit to take the lead when Garret Anderson took an inside-out cut at a Mark Brandenburg pitch with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh inning.

Anderson lofted a ball over third baseman Rene Gonzales’ head and into shallow left field, scoring two runs to give the Angels an 8-7 lead. Orlando Palmeiro, batting for Tim Wallach, then drilled a two-run double to right to give the Angels a 10-7 cushion.

“That made a big difference,” Lachemann said. “A one-run lead in this park can disappear in a heartbeat.”

Jorge Fabregas started the seventh-inning rally with a single off Dennis Cook, and after Damion Easley’s popout, Erstad tripled, just beyond the glove of right fielder Juan Gonzalez, to make it 7-5.

Randy Velarde walked and J.T. Snow flied to shallow right field, but Gonzalez’s throw home was well up the third-base line, giving the Rangers no chance of catching Erstad.

Texas Manager Johnny Oates summoned Brandenburg, who walked Tim Salmon and Chili Davis, the latter after jumping ahead, 0-and-2 in the count. Anderson and Palmerio then had their hits, and the comeback was complete.

“The way they were swinging the bats, I thought, ‘Gee, this is going to be a long night,’ ” Salmon said. “But Holtz really closed the door [in the second inning]. Then he did the same thing the next inning. We were able to chip away because the relievers held them. That was the key.”

The Angel comeback began with a run in the fourth inning, when Erstad singled and later scored on a double play; and three runs in the fifth on Anderson’s single, Wallach’s walk, Fabregas’ RBI single, a walk to Easley and sacrifice flies by Erstad and Velarde.