Angels Save Their Best for Last in 12-7 Victory

Mo Vaughn finally found a way to combat the exaggerated infield shift that teams have employed to take hit after hit away from the Angel slugger--he hit ‘em where they ain’t.

Vaughn’s three-run home run off Seattle reliever Jose Mesa capped a six-run eighth inning, and he ripped another three-run homer off Allen Watson in the ninth to catapult the Angels to a 12-7 victory over the Mariners before 26,431 in the Kingdome.

Vaughn had a career-high five hits and his second six-RBI game of the season, and Angel second baseman Randy Velarde had a career-high five hits, including a two-run single in the eighth and a two-run homer in third, to key a rare 16-hit outburst. It was the first time in club history two Angels had five hits in the same game.

“Let’s just hope this is a sign we’re breaking out of this,” Manager Terry Collins said after the Angels put a happy ending to a 3-6 trip. “This is something we’ve been waiting for, a big come-from-behind win.”

The Angels trailed, 7-3, going into the eighth after starter Chuck Finley was ripped for seven runs--six earned--on six hits in four innings and cleanup batter Todd Greene left seven runners on base in three critical at-bats, all coming with less than two outs.

This was shaping up as another in a long line of anemic offensive performances by the Angels, who have scored four runs or less in 25 of 27 games and hadn’t erased a deficit larger than two runs all season. But the Angels unloaded a month’s worth of frustration on the Mariners in the eighth.

Orlando Palmeiro led off with a single, and reliever Jose Paniagua walked Matt Walbeck and pinch-hitter Matt Luke to load the bases. Seattle Manager Lou Piniella went to Mesa, who walked Darin Erstad to force in a run.

Velarde then lined a single to center for two runs, the second scoring when the 6-foot-5 Luke slid head-first into home, his arms fully extended and the fingertips of his left hand catching the edge of the plate just ahead of catcher Dan Wilson’s tag, trimming the lead to 7-6.

Vaughn, who had had three RBIs this month, who hadn’t homered since June 12 and entered in a 3-for-26 slump, then smashed Mesa’s first pitch over the center-field wall for his 15th homer to give the Angels a 9-7 lead.

He wasn’t through. With Erstad (double) and Velarde (fielder’s choice) aboard in the ninth, Vaughn blistered a Watson pitch so hard it reached the second deck in right by the time Vaughn had barely stepped out of the box.

“Getting guys on base is the key,” Vaughn said. “I’ve been hitting the ball solid the past few weeks and had nothing to show for it. But with guys on base, they can’t really shift as much.”

With no one on base, opponents have moved their second baseman into the hole, the shortstop to the right of the second-base bag and the third baseman to the shortstop position.

The defense can play even deeper than normal on artificial turf, and that helped the Mariners snatch three hits away from Vaughn in this series, including one when shortstop Alex Rodriguez caught Vaughn’s liner in shallow center field Wednesday night.

“Everybody’s been doing that for the past 2 1/2 weeks,” a disgusted Vaughn said before the game. “What are you going to do?”

How about shooting a grounder down the third-base line, something Vaughn is capable of?

“That’s just what they want you to do, something different,” Vaughn said. “They’d love for me to hit the ball to left field, but I’m not going to do that.”

Relievers Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Scott Schoeneweis and Mark Petkovsek made the comeback possible by combining for five scoreless innings, with Schoeneweis getting his first major league victory.

The Angels received more good news earlier Thursday when Ken Hill was found to have no structural damage in his elbow, which tightened up against the Mariners Wednesday.

Doctors will change the anti-inflammatory medication Hill takes to treat arthritis in his elbow. The right-hander, who had surgery to shave down a bone spur and remove bone chips in 1998, was listed as day to day.

Collins said there are no plans to place Hill on the disabled list, but he won’t decide whether Hill will make his next start, scheduled for Monday night against Texas, until Saturday.