Angels’ Gross Has Short, Rocky Night

Interleague play? This one was beginning to look more like Arena Baseball.

The Angels and Colorado Rockies combined for 13 runs, 17 hits, three homers, four doubles, two errors and two pitching changes Monday night . . . in the first three innings. And that was without the designated hitter.

Then the Angels forgot they were in the launching pad that is Coors Field, and from the fourth inning on their offense was as grounded as a Space Shuttle in a thunderstorm. That allowed the Rockies to turn a one-run game into an 11- 7 victory before a crowd of 48,359.

Four Colorado relievers--Jerry Dipoto (three innings), Mike DeJean (1 2/3), Mike Munoz ( 1/3) and Steve Reed (one)--combined to blank the Angels from the fourth through eighth innings, and the Rockies put the game away with three runs off Angel reliever Mike James in the seventh.

“This is an incredible place, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina said. “You hear about it on TV and read about it in the papers, but until you go out there and witness it for yourself, you don’t really understand. With all the offense, you never feel like you’re out of the game.”

But after falling behind in the third, the Angels couldn’t get back in it. They had 16 hits but left 15 on base. They went four for 18 with runners in scoring position. They left the bases loaded in the first and third and, after scoring in the ninth and putting runners on first and second with no outs, they failed to score again.

They trailed, 7-6, in the fourth but ran themselves out of a run when Garret Anderson, running on his own and with a tight left hamstring, was thrown out trying to steal third. Jim Leyritz then singled to center, a hit that would have scored the tying run.

“We didn’t come up with the timely hits, and that’s the bottom line,” Tony Phillips said. “You can’t be perfect every night.”

Angel starter Kevin Gross can attest to that. His last name fit his performance, an ugly two-inning, seven-run, seven-hit outing in which he couldn’t throw his curveball for strikes and tried to get by with a fastball that is years past its prime.

Colorado right fielder Larry Walker, baseball’s leading hitter, blasted a 427-foot homer into the second deck in right field in the first inning, and first baseman Andres Galarraga followed with a 422-foot homer to center, the 10th time this season the Rockies have hit back-to-back homers.

“Larry broke the ice right away,” Colorado Manager Don Baylor said. “He let it be known this was not the type of night where we were going to go quietly. That first pitch to Walker . . . he’s hitting .410 . . . I guess Gross didn’t believe it.”

Dante Bichette’s two-run double and Quinton McCracken’s two-run single keyed a five-run second, as the Rockies took a 7-2 lead, but the Angels countered with four in the third, which featured Jim Edmonds’ 414-foot homer and DiSarcina’s two-run double off starter Darren Holmes, who was tagged for six runs and nine hits in two innings.

“You can’t get too frustrated when you get behind here,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said, “and you can’t get too comfortable when you’re ahead.”

There was one bright spot for the Angel pitching staff. Matt Perisho, the 21-year-old left-hander, replaced Gross in the third and gave up four hits and one unearned run in four innings, walking none and striking out three.

That performance earned Perisho, who has started six games this season, his spot back in the rotation. Gross will go to the bullpen.

“No question we’re going to plug him in there,” Collins said. “He pitched inside and moved the ball around the strike zone, which is what you have to do. You need a guy to come and shut down the other team to give you a chance to come back.”

Anderson won’t be back tonight because of his hamstring injury, Collins said, and he’s contemplating possible roster moves.

“It’s getting tough trying to manage all these [injured] guys when one day they’re on, one day they’re off,” Collins said. “I’m going to give it some thought in the next few days and make some decisions.”