ANGELS REPORT : Ortiz’s Struggles Continue in Third Consecutive Start

On the flip side of Eric Milton’s no-hitter Saturday was Angel youngster Ramon Ortiz’s third consecutive shaky start, an outing in which he gave up six runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings and was ejected after hitting Matt Lawton with a pitch in the fifth inning.

Wasn’t it only a few weeks ago that Ortiz looked like the second coming of Pedro Martinez, limiting the White Sox to one run and four hits in eight innings of a 9-2 victory in his big league debut on Aug. 19 and giving up two runs and six hits in seven innings against the Blue Jays on Aug. 24?

Since then, Ortiz has a 10.04 earned-run average in three starts, giving up 16 earned runs and 16 hits, walking 10 and striking out 12 in 14 1/3 innings.

“He wasn’t on his game, and he was fighting himself a bit,” Angel interim Manager Joe Maddon said. “Those are the signs of youth. He’s so talented, you expect him to have all the bells and whistles, but he needs major league experience. He needs to battle through adversity.”

Ortiz seemed to crumble under the weight of adversity Saturday. Lawton’s single and Terry Steinbach’s triple gave the Twins a 1-0 lead in the first, an inning that ended with Ortiz spiking the ball to the turf in frustration after retiring Todd Walker on a groundout to end the inning.

The Twins scored three runs in the third on Cleatus Davidson’s RBI groundout, Ortiz’s balk and Denny Hocking’s RBI single. After Jacque Jones tripled and Hocking smashed a two-run homer to make it 6-0 in the fifth, Ortiz nearly hit Lawton in the foot with a sweeping curve, threw a fastball outside, and then hit Lawton on the elbow.

Home-plate umpire Tim Welke, in what appears to be a new zero-tolerance policy for such acts, ejected Ortiz immediately, just as umpire Eric Cooper ejected Troy Percival without warning after he hit David Justice in Cleveland on Aug. 31.

“I don’t know how [Welke] thought I was throwing at him,” Ortiz said. “I threw a fastball outside, and I was throwing inside all game. I don’t know why there wasn’t a warning. I never thought he would throw me out.”

TODAY

ANGELS’

JARROD WASHBURN

(1-3, 7.62 ERA)

vs.

TWINS’

JOE MAYS

(5-8, 4.36 ERA)

Metrodome, Minneapolis, 11 a.m. PDT

TV--Channel 9 Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090)

* Update--What momentum the Angels gained during a rare four-game winning streak last week disappeared with Saturday’s loss. Washburn had one of his best games in the big leagues Monday night, limiting the Yankees to three runs and five hits in 7 2/3 innings of a 5-3 victory, and he will likely be backed by a lineup of Angel regulars that pounded Brad Radke for 13 hits Friday night.

ALMANAC

Through Saturday

Angel record:

overall: 56-85

in home games: 29-40

in road games: 27-45

vs. AL East: 17-33

vs. AL Centra: l19-27

vs. AL West: 14-13

vs. National League: 6-12

vs. left-handed starter: 12-17

vs. right-handed starter: 44-68

on grass: 50-74

on artificial turf: 6-11

in day games: 10-17

in night games: 45-68

in one-run games: 17-22

in extra inning games: 4-7