Angels Pull Out a Wild One, 6-5

One of these days, Jarrod Washburn is going to start a game and his pitching performance won’t be overshadowed by somebody getting hit in the mouth.

But Sunday his second start in the majors wasn’t that day.

The rookie left-hander’s big-league debut last week was lost in a series of melees with the Kansas City Royals after Felix Martinez hit the Angels’ Frank Bolick with a sucker punch.

Sunday, two blows to the face were bigger stories than Washburn’s 6 1/3-inning outing that resulted in a no-decision during the Angels’ wild-and-crazy 6-5 victory over Colorado in front of 42,493 at Edison Field.

How unusual was it? The ending came in the bottom of the ninth when Jim Edmonds scored from third base on a wild pitch that got past a Rockie shortstop who actually was playing catcher as an emergency replacement.

The memorable blows to the face began in the seventh inning.

Rookie second baseman Justin Baughman, who’s hitting .290 in 19 games as the Angel starting second baseman, misjudged a Curtis Goodwin line drive that had more topspin than a Carlos Moya forehand and the ball hit him flush in the face as he tried to make a leaping catch.

The facial injury that changed the game came in the ninth, however, when Dave Hollins, attempting to score from first on Edmonds’ double to right-center, crashed into Jeff Reed and opened a huge gash on the Colorado catcher’s cheek that required 12 stitches by Angel team physician Craig Milhouse to close.

The Angels had taken a 5-3 lead into the ninth and appeared to have won their eighth consecutive game when Dante Bichette hit a towering fly ball to left with two outs and runners on first and third. But left fielder Darin Erstad lost the ball in the twilight and it dropped untouched 20 feet away as Jason Bates and Ellis Burks scrambled home to tie the game.

Hollins led off the ninth with a walk and then dove headlong into Reed after Edmonds’ line drive one-hopped the wall in right-center. But Burks made a perfect throw to shortstop Neifi Perez, who threw a strike to Reed, who tagged out Hollins before collapsing and clutching his cheek. “It was almost like watching a horror flick,” Colorado Manager Don Baylor said. “It’s the worst cut I’ve ever seen. It looked like someone took a razor to him.”

Edmonds had advanced to third on the throw and Baylor, who had Reed pinch-hit for starting catcher Kirt Manwaring in the ninth, was faced with finding someone to catch reliever Jerry Dipoto. “I had plenty of volunteers, but I was looking for someone with good hands and so Neifi came to mind,” Baylor said.

So Perez, who had not caught since Little League, put on the gear and Larry Walker came in from the outfield to make his major league debut at second base. The Rockies then walked Tim Salmon intentionally to set up the double play. Dipoto’s third pitch to Fielder was a slider that eluded Perez and skipped to the backstop as Edmonds raced home with the winning run.

“Neifi’s not a catcher and it was pretty brave of him to put on the mask and get out there,” Dipoto said. “He doesn’t want to catch the slider, but at the same time, I’m not a big fan of standing out there and throwing Cecil Fielder three straight fastballs.”

Washburn, who had given up just two hits but walked six in 6 1/3 innings of his first start, did not walk a batter but yielded nine hits and three runs Sunday. He finally got a number that wasn’t round in his earned-run average in the sixth when he gave up his first earned run in 12 big-league innings on a double to center by Vinny Castilla.

He left with the bases loaded an inning later, right after Baughman went off with a towel pressed to his face. Shigetoshi Hasegawa came on in relief and gave up a two-run single before getting out of the inning.

Mike Holtz started the ninth and struck out Reed before giving up a double to Bates. That brought out Manager Terry Collins, who summoned Rich DeLucia. DeLucia got Perez on a pop-up and gave up an infield single to Burks before Bichette’s high fly tied the score.

The Angels hit seven ground balls in the first inning and scored four unearned runs--thanks to a couple of two-base errors and a wild pitch--but it was only an omen of the weirdness yet to come. “It was an unbelievable game,” Collins said. “I’ve never seen a major league game where somebody who had never caught before had to catch. Freaky things can happen when you run out of catchers.

“And Jarrod pitched really well again, too.”

One of these days, it won’t be an afterthought.