Angels Celebrate a Hollins’ Day, 6-5

Allen Watson, clearly the ace of the Angel rotation the last couple of months, aced the first test of Manager Terry Collins’ four-man rotation Monday night.

The bullpen failed miserably, but Dave Hollins got all of John Wetteland’s 0-2 pitch for a two-run double in the ninth inning to propel the Angels to their seventh consecutive victory, a 6-5 win over Texas in front of 17,272 at Anaheim Stadium.

His teammates mobbed him at second base and Hollins probably would not have minded if they decided to carry him off the field.

“Yeah, they were excited, man,” he said. “Me? I was tired, man. But I decided it was a good win.”

Working on three days’ rest, Watson appeared anything but tired, weaving through the Ranger lineup for seven innings with a mixture of fastballs, curves and change-ups. He gave up four hits and one run, making the most of only 99 pitches.

The Rangers, however, made even more of the first 21 pitches from three Angel relievers in the eighth inning, tying a club record with three homers that lifted them to a 5-4 lead.

The Angels rallied with one out in the ninth when Gary DiSarcina singled to left and Tony Phillips followed with a double into the right-field corner. Wetteland walked Darin Erstad intentionally to load the bases and Hollins ripped a double that carried the Angels to victory.

“Will the four-man rotation work? I don’t have a clue.” Collins said before the game. “But we want to get our best guys out there and if we can get seven good innings out of them, then we think we have the kind of bullpen that can pick us up for the other couple.”

Wrong answer . . . on this night, anyway.

Reliever Rich DeLucia came in to pitch the eighth and gave up a homer to No. 9 batter Billy Ripken on his first pitch, walked Mark McLemore with his next four and then got lucky when Ivan Rodriguez smacked a shot right back at him to start a double play. When Warren Newson sent a ball over the wall in left to cut the Angel lead to 4-3, Collins summoned Pep Harris. Harris went to a full count to Juan Gonzalez before the Texas right fielder singled to left.

So Collins signaled for closer Troy Percival, who had a 1.09 earned-run average and 12 saves in 13 opportunities since returning from the disabled list May 16. Dean Palmer sent Percival’s 1-1 pitch over the left-field wall and Watson’s chance at earning his eighth victory in his last 10 games evaporated.

Still, it was hard not to marvel at Watson’s economy and efficiency.

“He’s doing three things,” catcher Chad Kreuter said. “Throwing strikes with all his pitches, changing speeds and moving the ball around. It’s the combination of the three that’s doing it.

“The other thing he’s doing is making great adjustments. These are the best hitters in the world and eventually, they’ll catch up to you. But he’s been able to start off using his best stuff against the hitter’s weakness and then the second time around, when they adjust to cover their weakness, he’s been able to go after what they’ve exposed while trying to cover.”

Watson did not give up a hit until Ripken grounded a single into left with one out in the third. He gave up only one hit in his second pass through the Texas order, and that produced the first Ranger run when Gonzalez hooked a fly ball around the left-field foul pole.

Texas starter Julio Santana retired the Angels in order in the first, fourth and fifth innings. The second inning, however, was his undoing.

The Angels, who hit six homers in the first two games of a four-game sweep in Oakland and then used the groundout-and-sacrifice-fly approach to win the second two, manufactured four runs with only three hits.

Edmonds singled to right, Tim Salmon walked, Garret Anderson singled and Jim Leyritz hit a grounder to third baseman Palmer, who threw wildly to the plate, allowing Salmon to score.

Chad Kreuter walked to load the bases, DiSarcina’s single gave the Angels a 3-0 lead and Erstad forced DiSarcina as Leyritz scored the fourth run.