Angels Get Their Own Medicine

It was Retro Night in Qualcomm Stadium, where the San Diego Padres donned those hideous brown-and-mustard-yellow jerseys for their interleague game against the Angels, and where Afro wigs during batting practice and plaid pants in the bleachers were in vogue.

Why anyone around here would want to turn back the clock to 1978 is a mystery, though, because there is no time like the present for these Padres, who used a game-breaking three-run sixth inning Friday night to beat the Angels, 6-3, before a crowd of 40,621.

Kevin Brown (9-3) gave up three runs on five hits in seven innings, and closer Trevor Hoffman retired five in a row in the eighth and ninth for his 24th save in 24 opportunities, as the National League’s hottest team stifled the American League’s hottest team.

But the Angels, whose Western division lead over Texas was reduced to 1 1/2 games, hardly resembled the periwinkle-blue wrecking crew that took a 20-4 June record into the game and not because they were wearing their navy-blue-and-red, buttonless halo uniforms of the 1970s.

They botched two potential double-play balls and committed a sixth-inning error to aid the Padres’ rally, which snapped a 3-3 tie and Angel starter Jason Dickson’s win streak at seven.

“I’ve got to say, in the month of June, we have not played a game like that, where we gave away runs,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “Jason pitched fine. We just didn’t make any plays, and that’s what we’ve been doing all month.”

So have the Padres, who have won 15 of their last 18 games and are 17-7 in June. Their 52-28 record marks the best 80-game mark in franchise history, and they improved to 29-8 at home, thanks to a sixth inning that may have turned when Brown’s bunt attempt took a left-hand turn down the first-base line.

Chris Gomez had opened the inning with a single, and Brown’s bunt seemed to be veering into foul territory when it hit the chalk line and turned fair. Brown reached first and leadoff batter Quilvio Veras, attempting to advance both runners with a bunt, instead drew a walk from Dickson to load the bases.

Steve Finley’s sacrifice fly to deep right off reliever Mike Holtz gave San Diego a 4-3 lead, and Tony Gwynn walked to load the bases. Ken Caminiti chopped a grounder to second, where Justin Baughman charged hard but had the ball nick off his glove for an error, the run scoring to make it 5-3.

Greg Vaughn, batting against reliever Pep Harris, then lined to third, where Dave Hollins’ short-hop catch sparked confusion on both sides. Pinch-runner Ed Giovanola went back to third and Gwynn froze at second, thinking Hollins had caught the ball in the air.

Hollins, his path to second blocked by Gwynn, froze for a moment, looked toward second and then third. But instead of throwing home for the force or to second to attempt a double play, Hollins waited for Gwynn to run toward third, tagging him as Giovanola scored to make it 6-3.

“It was just one of those freaky things,” Collins said.

Another oddity: The Angels struck out looking seven times, including five in the first three innings, but once they got their bats moving they put up three runs in the fourth on one thunderous swing from Cecil Fielder.

Hollins doubled to right-center to open that inning and Jim Edmonds walked. Brown fell behind Fielder, 2-0, and grooved a fastball that Fielder belted into the second deck in left-center, a 443-foot bomb that was only the 18th “Loge Launch” in Qualcomm Stadium history.

The Padres countered with two in the fourth and one in the fifth to tie the score, their first run coming when Caminiti, the National League’s most valuable player in 1996 but a struggling .240 hitter this season, hit Dickson’s first pitch of the fourth over the left-field wall for his 11th homer of the season.

Vaughn singled to center and Wally Joyner walked. After Dickson blew a 91-mph fastball by Carlos Hernandez for strike three, Gomez grounded to Hollins, who touched the third-base bag to force Vaughn but threw wildly to second, allowing Joyner to take third. Brown then singled to center to make it 3-2.

Caminiti started San Diego’s fifth-inning rally with a two-out single and scored on Vaughn’s double to left-center, a gapper that appeared to glance of Edmonds’ glove just before the center fielder crashed into the wall.