Rivera Ruins Angel Party in 10th, 4-1

There were some happy returns for the Angels Monday. Well, one, anyway.

They got a bounce from pitcher Ken Hill’s first start in three weeks. That good feeling lasted until San Diego’s Ruben Rivera hooked a three-run home run around the left-field foul pole in the 10th inning to give the Padres a 4-1 victory in front of 25,217 at Edison Field.

Whether Hill’s six shutout innings were enough to cushion the blow remains to be seen. The Angels, though, dropped 9 1/2 games behind the first-place Texas Rangers in the American League West.

“We need Ken and we need to get [pitcher Tim] Belcher back,” Collins said. “We need to get things together totally. But you can’t point at one guy or one area. To make a run with 70 games left is certainly a team thing.”

It was the Padres, though, who got the team effort Monday.

Rivera wasn’t in the starting lineup when the game began, entering only after Reggie Sanders was ejected after griping at umpire Greg Kosc when he was called out on strikes in the eighth inning. It was the third time Sanders was called out in the game, and he responded by tossing a container of gum from the dugout onto the field in protest.

Rivera then burst the Angels’ bubble.

In the eighth, he made a perfect throw to second base to nail Randy Velarde, who tagged and tried to advance on Mo Vaughn’s fly out to deep center field. Rivera’s play saved a run when Tim Salmon followed with a double into the left-field corner.

Rivera then drove home the go-ahead runs in the 10th, bombing Shigetoshi Hasegawa’s 3-2 pitch into the left-field seats.

It spoiled Hill’s return. He hadn’t pitched since going on the disabled list with an inflamed right elbow on July 2.

He had bone chips removed from the elbow a year ago and learned he had arthritis in the elbow this season. Hill left a June 23 game against Seattle after two innings and lasted only 3 1/3 innings in his next start against Texas.

Afterward, he acknowledged the elbow hurt and he needed some rest.

“Ken knows this will flare up again the rest of his career,” General Manager Bill Bavasi said. “It is something that he is going to have to learn to deal with.”

A little rest and recuperation seemed the best way for Hill to deal with it this time.

Hill struck out seven and walked only two. He got ahead of hitters and showed more pop on his fastball than he has in a month.

He struck out Phil Nevin looking on three pitches in the third. He blew a third strike past Quilvio Veras later in the inning.

“He can be a dominant pitcher,” Collins said. “I’m hoping the warmer weather will help him feel better.”

Hill had to go it alone Monday, as the Angel offense sputtered again.

Darin Erstad twice hit into two inning-ending double plays, one stranded Matt Walbeck on third in the fifth inning. Troy Glaus had a weak foul popup with a runner on second in the fourth and struck out with two on to end the eighth.

“You just can’t will a winning streak,” Garret Anderson said. “You have to play hard and hope it happens. . . . You get timely hits and play errorless baseball, those things usually spell, ‘Winning streak.’ ”

Anderson had the only timely hit Monday. He lined a ground-rule double into the right-field corner in the fourth, scoring Velarde from second.

The Padres got even in the eighth, although they hardly roughed up Angel reliever Mark Petkovsek.

Damian Jackson legged a double out of a flare that landed 20 feet behind the first base bag. Veras bunted Jackson over to third. With the Angel infield playing in, Eric Owens smashed a ball up the middle that Velarde got his glove on, but couldn’t corral. The ball trickled behind him and Jackson scored.