With Vaughn at 1st, Angels Restore Order

An intravenous tube pumped cortisone into his lower left leg, his left ankle was wrapped in ice, and Mo Vaughn couldn’t have felt better Wednesday night.

The Angel slugger returned to first base for the first time since the April 6 season opener, and Vaughn marked the homecoming by hitting a two-run home run in the fourth inning to help lead the Angels to a 4-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers in front of 12,676 in Tiger Stadium.

Knuckleballer Steve Sparks threw eight innings, giving up one run on three hits; Troy Percival rebounded from Saturday night’s five-run blown save and loss to Chicago, striking out two of three in the ninth for his fifth save; and Darin Erstad snapped a 0-for-11 slump with a two-run homer into the right-field upper deck in the eighth.

“But Mo got the big one,” Erstad said of Vaughn’s fourth homer, which was hit to the opposite field off Tiger starter Jeff Weaver to give the Angels a 2-1 lead. “That got us off on the right foot. . . .

“Mo brings something to the table that most can’t. He’s Mo Vaughn. His reputation precedes him. The way he flows, the way he moves and conducts himself, the team feeds off that. When he’s out of his element it makes it tough for him, and that makes it tough for us. Now that he’s back, hopefully we’re ready to roll.”

Since returning from the disabled list April 22, Vaughn’s sprained left ankle had relegated him to designated hitter, a spot where few regulars are comfortable. But there seemed to be a little more spring and a little less limp in Vaughn’s step before Wednesday’s game.

“This is like opening day for me,” Vaughn said. “I’m a much better player when I get into the flow of the game. . . . When you’re DHing, after an at-bat, you start coming down. When you’re playing defense you can talk to the pitcher, talk about hitters, you’re into the game a lot more.”

Weaver, a first-round pick from Fresno State last June, initially silenced the Angels with a wicked fastball and some nasty sidearm breaking pitches, striking out five of the first nine batters, including Vaughn.

But Randy Velarde led off the fourth with a single, and Vaughn smacked a Weaver fastball (on the outer half of the plate) just over the left-field wall for a 2-1 lead.

“The first half is like a cloak-and-dagger, you’ve never faced a lot of these pitchers, so you need to figure out what they’re doing in your first at-bat against them,” Vaughn said.

“The second time, you know a little more and try to hit it to one part of the park. If I try to pull the ball, it’s an out. My thing is to hit the ball the other way.”

Sparks’ thing is to throw his floaters close enough to the plate for batters to swing, and he was masterful Wednesday night, walking three and striking out three in a 100-pitch outing to gain his first victory after opening the season with three losses.

Sparks, who is 4-0 lifetime against Detroit, has given up two earned runs over his last 21 1/3 innings (0.84 earned-run average).

“I didn’t know what to think early in the year--he was having trouble throwing the knuckler for strikes, and our catchers were having trouble handling it,” Manager Terry Collins said.

“But the last three games he’s been around the plate a lot more, and that makes a difference. If you can make them swing at the knuckler, you have a chance. He gets hurt when he has to throw his other pitches.”

It appeared the Tigers would inflict heavy damage on Sparks when they loaded the bases with none out in the second on singles by Dean Palmer and Tony Clark and a walk to Gabe Kapler, but Sparks limited Detroit to one run.

Juan Encarnacion drove in that run with a fielder’s choice, putting runners on first and third. Sparks faked a pickoff throw to third, and Encarnacion bit, trying to steal second while Sparks turned and threw him out. Gregg Jefferies then grounded back to the mound to end the inning.

“That play never works, does it?” Sparks said. “I just felt like he’d be running to avoid a double play, that’s the only reason I did it. He’s an aggressive runner and was probably going on the first move. It’s usually just a token move, but it worked.”