For Angels, Good Things Come in 3s

Threes were wild Saturday night for the Angels, who turned a rare triple play in the fourth inning, used Tim Salmon’s three-run home run in the eighth to tie the score against the Seattle Mariners, and ended a three-game losing streak in the bottom of the ninth.

That’s when things got wacky, as Seattle reliever Norm Charlton dropped the ball and Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina dropped the hammer on the Mariners, lining an RBI single to center field for a 5-4 Angel victory before 26,301 in Anaheim Stadium.

With the score tied, 4-4, Todd Greene opened the ninth by beating out a dribbler between the mound and first base. Craig Grebeck sacrificed pinch-runner Orlando Palmeiro to second, and Palmeiro took third when Charlton simply dropped the ball with his foot on the rubber--a balk.

Seattle brought its infield in, but DiSarcina grounded a shot right past Charlton, as the Angels won in their last at-bat for the 13th time this season and pulled to within 5 1/2 games of the first-place Mariners after trailing for most of the game.

“That’s a freaky thing, that balk,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “He’s one of the best relievers in baseball, and guys like him don’t make those kinds of mistakes. He’s made a career out of getting out of jams like that.”

Closer Troy Percival, who worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the top of the ninth, getting Edgar Martinez to line out and Jay Buhner to pop out, got the victory, improving to 3-4.

But that wouldn’t have been possible had Salmon not come through with his clutch hit, following Tony Phillips’ walk and Darin Erstad’s single with a 431-foot home run to center off reliever Scott Sanders, Salmon’s 14th homer of the season.

“We just haven’t been getting the breaks lately, but the last inning or two it was just break after break for us,” Salmon said. “It was an exciting game, there were a couple of big home runs, a triple play. . . . It was a really weird night, but fortunately we got the breaks in the end.”

Ken Griffey Jr. provided the other big home run, lining a Matt Perisho pitch over the left-field wall in the fifth inning for his 30th homer of the season, a two-run shot that gave the Mariners a 3-1 lead.

It was 4-1 Seattle after third baseman Dave Hollins’ fielding error allowed Martinez to score in the fifth, and the Mariners appeared to be in good shape with soft-throwing left-hander Jamie Moyer, who beat the Angels on June 26 and May 19, giving up one run on five hits through seven innings.

But Manager Lou Piniella pulled Moyer after Tony Phillips walked to open the eighth, and that highly flammable object known as the Mariner bullpen blew the lead, with Greg McCarthy giving up Erstad’s hit, Sanders the Salmon home run and Charlton the winning hit.

The Angels’ defensive highlight came in the fourth inning when they turned their first Anaheim Stadium triple play in almost 20 years.

With Russ Davis on second, Dan Wilson on first and both runners moving with the pitch, Rich Amaral lined a ball to shallow right-center field. Anderson made a running catch and an off-balance throw to second before Davis got to the bag, and DiSarcina threw to first well before Wilson made it back.

It was the third triple play in the major leagues this season--the Cubs and Padres turned the others--and only the second in Big A history. The first came July 14, 1977, also against the Mariners. The Angels last turned a triple play Sept. 8, 1996, in Minnesota.

“If a double play is a pitcher’s best friend,” Collins said, “a triple play is a rally killer, I’d imagine.”

So is the kind of base-running gaffe Angel second baseman Luis Alicea made in the seventh. With Anderson on third and Greene on first, Alicea popped to second.

Alicea, thinking the infield fly rule was in effect, jogged halfway to first. But that rule only applies when runners are on first and second.

Seattle second baseman Joey Cora dropped the ball, threw to first in time to get Alicea, and Greene was caught in a rundown for a double play. DiSarcina then flied to center to end the inning, and Collins yanked Alicea.

“He came in and said he screwed up,” Collins said of Alicea. “He plays hard. He just made a mistake.”