Hill Rebounds to Help Angels Continue Streak

Someone on the Angel training staff must have performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Ken Hill’s “dead arm” this week, because it was alive and kicking Thursday night.

Hill, whose earned-run average and ego took a beating in his last two starts, rebounded with a strong seven-inning effort, giving up two runs and five hits to lead the Angels to a 6-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners before 23,709 in the Kingdome.

Hill struck out five, which was four more than he struck out in his last two starts, when he was rocked for a combined 10 runs and 14 hits in seven innings.

“My arm strength and location were a lot better, and I felt a lot better,” said Hill, who was sapped by a 148-pitch outing against Oakland on May 20. “I moved my fastball around the plate and used all my pitches. The key for me was pitching inside. All the games I’ve won this year I’ve pitched inside. All the games I’ve lost I didn’t.”

The victory was the Angels’ fifth in a row, gave them a 6-1 record on their road trip and pulled them to within 3 1/2 games of Texas in the American League West as they begin interleague play with a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies in Edison Field tonight.

But it didn’t come without some tense moments. Left-hander Mike Holtz relieved Hill to start the eighth with a 5-2 lead and walked Ken Griffey Jr. after getting ahead on the count, 0-and-2. David Segui then lined a single to left, bringing the tying run to the plate.

Angel Manager Terry Collins summoned right-hander Shigetoshi Hasegawa, who became the Angel set-up man by default two weeks ago because Rich DeLucia and Pep Harris couldn’t handle the job.

Hasegawa then ended the rally by striking out Edgar Martinez swinging, Dan Wilson looking--on a beautiful fastball on the outside corner--and getting Rob Ducey to fly out to center fielder Jim Edmonds on the warning track.

The right-hander remained in the game and retired the side in order in the ninth, striking out Russ Davis and Joey Cora, for his first career save and the first save this season by an Angel not named Troy Percival.

“Shiggy was outstanding,” Collins said. “This kid is not afraid of any situation. He goes out there with four pitches, he has command of all of them, and he wants it, he wants to be an important part of the club, not just someone who pitches the middle innings.”

The Mariners took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Alex Rodriguez was hit by a pitch and Griffey blasted a full-count fastball off the facade of the second deck in right for a two-run homer, giving him 22 homers and 54 RBIs.

But Darin Erstad sliced the lead in half when he led off the third with his 13th homer, a shot deep into the right-field bleachers, and the Angels took a 3-2 lead in the fourth with a nifty two-run rally.

Matt Walbeck doubled to left with one out, and Orlando Palmeiro, who was recalled from triple-A Vancouver on Wednesday night, curved an RBI triple into the right-field corner that eluded Ducey’s glove by about three inches.

Angel second baseman Justin Baughman, who made a spectacular, leaping grab of Wilson’s liner and doubled Martinez off first to end the third inning, worked the count to 1-and-1 off Seattle starter Ken Cloude.

Wilson, the Seattle catcher, called for a pitchout and took a step to his right as Cloude released his pitch, but Cloude apparently missed the call, delivering a chest-high fastball that Baughman bunted for a suicide squeeze and the go-ahead run.

The Angels tacked on another run in the seventh when No. 9 hitter Gary DiSarcina belted Cloude’s first pitch over the left-field wall for his second homer, and they made the score 5-2 on DiSarcina’s RBI single in the eighth.

Walbeck walked to open the inning, Palmeiro sacrificed him to second, and Baughman singled sharply to center, Walbeck holding at third. DiSarcina then lined a hit-and-run single to right for a run before Erstad grounded into a 6-3 double play, his first in 240 at-bats this season.

The Angels scored their final run in the ninth when Cecil Fielder walked and took second on a passed ball. Garret Anderson singled to right, scoring pinch-runner Norberto Martin.