Angels Find Salvation in Salmon’s Grand Slam

The Cleveland Indians showed Tim Salmon little respect Friday night, walking Jim Edmonds intentionally twice, in the seventh and ninth innings, to pitch to the Angel cleanup batter.

Salmon failed to come through with a clutch hit in those situations but made up for it in a huge way, slamming a full-count pitch from Paul Shuey over the left-center field wall for a grand slam in the bottom of the 11th inning, lifting the Angels to an amazing 8-6 victory before 17,758 in Anaheim Stadium.

The Angels couldn’t score with no outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th, then gave up two runs in the top of the 11th. But Darin Erstad and Luis Alicea singled to open the bottom of the 11th, Edmonds walked, and Salmon followed with his dramatic, game-winning blast.

“It was one of those moments where everything just stopped,” Salmon said. “I saw the pitch, and everyone said how effortless it looked. When I hit it, I just said, ‘Get over his head.’ ”

Knuckleballer Dennis Springer had replaced Angel closer Troy Percival to start the 11th inning, walked Manny Ramirez with one out and gave up a ground-rule double to Sandy Alomar.

Instead of going to his bullpen for left-handers Chuck McElroy or Mike Holtz, Angel Manager Terry Collins left Springer, a right-hander, in to face left-handed hitting Tony Fernandez.

Fernandez then drilled a two-run double to the gap in right center for a 6-4 lead. Collins brought in Holtz to face Jim Thome, who singled to center, but Edmonds made a perfect throw to catcher Jorge Fabregas to cut down Fernandez at the plate.

The Angels had to be kicking themselves after blowing a chance to win it in the bottom of the 10th. Dave Hollins, whose third-inning error led to an Indian run, led off with a single.

Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove summoned left-hander Paul Assenmacher to face Garret Anderson, whose grounder to the second-base hole slipped under Julio Franco’s glove for an error, enabling Hollins to take third.

Assenmacher intentionally walked pinch-hitter Todd Greene to load the bases with no outs, and when Hargrove went to right-hander Eric Plunk, Collins sent Jack Howell up to hit for Jim Leyritz, who was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.

Howell, who was .294 as a pinch-hitter in 1996 and led the American League with four pinch-hit home runs, swung at the first pitch, popping up to Franco at second.

Gary DiSarcina, who homered in the second inning, then hit a fly ball to shallow center field and Hollins tried to tag and score, but outfielder Marquis Grissom, who won four consecutive Gold Glove Awards in the National League, threw a one-hopper to Alomar at the plate to nail Hollins.

“We just hung in there again tonight,” Collins said. “I thought we had it won in the 10th. I’ll take my chances with Jack Howell and Gary DiSarcina at the plate.”

Percival, in his first game since Wednesday night’s opening-night disaster, when he gave up four runs in the bottom of the ninth in a 6-5 loss to the Boston Red Sox, looked sharp in the top of the 10th, striking out Franco and brushing off Hollins’ error to retire Kevin Mitchell on an inning-ending flyout.

Pep Harris, a former Indian prospect who came to Anaheim in the 1996 Brian Anderson trade, relieved starter Allen Watson with one out and two on in the fifth and got Kevin Mitchell to ground into a 5-4-3 double play. He added two more hitless innings before giving way to Mike James to start the eighth.

James then added two scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and striking out one, before being replaced by Percival.

Albie Lopez, who failed to win the No. 5 spot in the Indian rotation this spring, replaced starter Bartolo Colon to start the sixth and gave up a single in each of the next four innings, but the Angels were unable to score.

Neither starting pitcher--Cleveland’s Colon or the Angels’ Watson--were all that impressive. In fact, by the second inning, the 21-year-old Cleveland rookie who made his major league debut must have felt more like a semi-Colon.

Hollins followed Erstad’s first-inning single, Alicea’s walk and Salmon’s bloop single with a two-run single to right.

Eddie Murray walked to open the second and DiSarcina drilled a meaty Colon fastball deep into the left-field seats for a two-run home run, which was also his 600th career hit.

There was just one problem for the Angels--the Indians had just as much early success against Watson. Watson walked Justice with two outs in the second and Alomar followed with a two-run homer to make it 2-2.

Cleveland then responded to the Angels’ two-run second with two runs in the third, taking advantage of Hollins’ fielding error, a walk to Franco and Matt Williams’ two-run double to the wall in left-center, which made it 4-4.

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* HE’S HAUNTED

To Angel Manager Terry Collins, the Cleveland Indians are a National League all-star team. C11