One Big Inning Does In Angels

Nothing against Angel pitcher Omar Olivares--he’s as fine a lad as one will find in Anaheim’s clubhouse--but the right-hander is probably the last guy Manager Terry Collins wants to see warming up in the bullpen in the fourth inning of a game.

Olivares is the Angels’ primary long reliever, and when he’s getting loose that early, it means the Angel starter--it was Jack McDowell on Friday night--is having a rough outing.

As it turned out, Olivares didn’t enter the game until the eighth, but the Angels never recovered from McDowell’s rocky third inning, and they lost to the Cleveland Indians, 6-2, before 26,240 in Edison Field.

McDowell, making his first regular-season appearance since undergoing elbow surgery last May, gave up four of his eight hits and four of his five runs in the third, as the Angels lost for the first time this season.

Dave Burba, slated to be the Cincinnati Reds’ opening-day starter until last week’s trade to Cleveland, pitched seven strong innings, giving up one run on six hits and striking out five, and left fielder Brian Giles smacked two bases-empty home runs to pace the Indians.

McDowell settled down after the third, giving up one run--Giles’ homer in the fourth--and four hits through the seventh, and Collins was at least encouraged by the fact that McDowell’s velocity in the seventh--around 88 mph--was as good as it was in the first.

“He had one bad inning, and other than that I thought he threw the ball well,” Collins said. “Cleveland has a good lineup, and you can’t make too many mistakes against them.”

McDowell, who pitched for Cleveland in 1996 and ‘97, no doubt wanted to stick it to his former team--he wasn’t happy when Manager Mike Hargrove demoted him to the bullpen last May, and the Indians declined to pick up the option year on his contract last winter.

But the Indians wound up sticking it to McDowell, beginning with Giles’ first homer, a shot that traveled an estimated 407 feet into the right-field seats, to open the third.

McDowell walked speedy Kenny Lofton with two outs--a move that has come back to haunt many a pitcher--and Omar Vizquel dropped a perfect bunt toward third for a single.

Both runners advanced on a double steal, David Justice drilled a two-run double to right for a 3-0 lead, and Manny Ramirez doubled to left to make it 4-0.

The Angels scored in the bottom of the third on Dave Hollins’ RBI single and stirred in the eighth when Tim Salmon blasted reliever Jose Mesa’s first pitch an estimated 445 feet, a mammoth homer to center that tied him for third with Bobby Grich on the Angels’ all-time homer list with 154 and pulled the Angels to within 5-2.

Cecil Fielder walked and Garret Anderson singled to center, putting runners on first and second. Hargrove could have gone to left-hander Paul Assenmacher, but fearing Collins would counter with pinch-hitter Phil Nevin, he left Mesa in to pitch to Matt Walbeck.

Smart move. Walbeck chopped a grounder up the middle, where Vizquel, the shortstop who has won five consecutive Gold Glove awards, fielded the ball, tapped second, leaped over a sliding Anderson and relayed to first for a double play. Norberto Martin then grounded to short to end the inning.

“I’ve stopped being in awe of the things he does, because he keeps making plays like that over and over,” Hargrove said. “There’s not a better defensive shortstop in the game.”

The bottom third of the Angel order, which went 10 for 24 with seven RBIs in two victories over the Yankees, went 0 for 12 Friday night, and the Angels squandered several scoring opportunities.

Anderson struck with the bases load out on a full count to end the third. In the second, after putting runners on first and third with no outs, Burba struck out Anderson and Walbeck and got Martin to line to right.

“If we scored a couple runs in the second, maybe that would have changed the outlook of the game,” Collins said. “I’ll take my chances with Garret Anderson up with runners on first and third and no outs. You don’t see him strike out too often in that situation.

“We had opportunities to score. The last two games we got big hits in big situations. Tonight, we didn’t.”