Angels Catch Just a Glimmer of Hope in Loss to Mariners

The maturation of Angel pitcher Ramon Ortiz continued Sunday in a 3-2 loss to Seattle, a game the Mariners won when Raul Ibanez smacked Shigetoshi Hasegawa’s first pitch of the ninth inning into Safeco Field’s right-field bleachers.

Ortiz gave up two runs and five hits and struck out eight in five innings, but beyond the numbers was a performance that showed the youngster is gaining a firm grasp on what it takes to pitch in the big leagues.

“I think he’s proved he’s good enough to stay here,” Angel ace Chuck Finley said. “The biggest thing he has to learn is to be patient with himself. He seems to want it all right now, which can be good or bad. You can see when he starts huffing and puffing, he gets himself in trouble.”

In past starts, when Ortiz ran into problems, he resorted to what interim Manager Joe Maddon called “primal pitching instincts” and attempted to pump fastballs by hitters.

But Sunday, Ortiz’s most effective pitches were his slider and changeup, and he kept the Mariners off balance. His best pitch of the afternoon may have been a fifth-inning changeup that fooled Ken Griffey Jr., who swung and missed for strike three even though the ball bounced in the dirt.

“He used a much better mix of pitches today,” Maddon said. “He got softer in situations with his slider and changeup. He didn’t do that until he felt comfortable here.”

After eight starts in the big leagues, in which he is 2-3 with a 6.17 earned-run average, Ortiz feels he belongs.

“I’m more relaxed, I have confidence in myself now, and I have better command,” said Ortiz, who struggled in four consecutive starts before rebounding in his last two games. “My concentration has been better the last two outings. When you throw a lot of strikes, it doesn’t matter how hard you throw, you’re going to get a lot of outs.”

With Ortiz surpassing 250 innings this past year, combining instructional league, winter league, spring training, minor league and major league appearances, the Angels want to handle their top prospect with care.

That’s why Maddon pulled Ortiz after 89 pitches, 57 of which were strikes.

Seattle scored in the first when Griffey and Jay Buhner walked and Tom Lampkin hit an RBI single to right.

The Angels tied the score in the third on back-to-back doubles by Gary DiSarcina and Darin Erstad and went ahead, 2-1, in the fourth on Steve Decker’s sacrifice fly.

The Mariners pulled even in the fifth when Alex Rodriguez walked, stole second and scored on Buhner’s two-out RBI single.

The score remained tied until the ninth, when Ibanez sent a sellout crowd of 44,485 home happy with his homer and the Angels home with another loss in what could be a milestone season for the wrong reason.

“My goal is to not be the worst team in Angel history,” Darin Erstad said. “We’ve lost 91 games and the record is 95, so we need to win ballgames.”

The Angels have six left, and there’s a growing sense, with a potential breakup of the team this winter, that it may be the last six games this group plays together.

As Tim Salmon left Safeco Field, the visiting clubhouse manager told him, “I’ll see you in spring training.” Boomed Garret Anderson from the bathroom: “Don’t bet on it!”