Power Play Puts Angels’ Win on Ice

Whoever said lightning doesn’t strike twice may want to amend that statement after the Angels’ 9-6 victory over Tampa Bay Friday night.

Not only did lightning strike twice, it struck three times twice, with all the accompanying thunder, as the Angels stormed into baseball’s record books and past the Devil Rays before a crowd of 22,221 in Tropicana Field.

Mo Vaughn, Tim Salmon and Troy Glaus, who all homered in the fourth inning, repeated--or would that be three-peated?--the feat in the ninth inning to break a 6-6 tie and stop the Angels’ two-game losing streak.

It marked only the 13th time in major league history that three players hit two homers in the same game, and the Angels are the only team to do it twice. Dave Winfield, Dante Bichette and Brian Downing each hit two homers against Toronto on July 14, 1990.

It was the 19th and 20th time in club history that three Angels homered in the same inning, with Jim Edmonds, Salmon and Tony Phillips last accomplishing the feat in the fifth inning against Oakland on July 11, 1997.

“It was weird,” Glaus said. “I’m standing there on deck in the ninth, and it wasn’t like a premonition, but after [Salmon] hit his homer, I said, ‘Shoot, I’ve got to hit one now.’ ”

Glaus did, a 414-foot blast to left off Devil Ray closer Roberto Hernandez that capped a remarkable game and a torrid four-game stretch for the Angel third baseman.

Glaus’ first homer was hit so high and so hard it didn’t come down. Really. His two-run shot to left off starter Doc Gooden lodged in the C-ring catwalk near the dome’s roof, approximately 110 feet above field level, and was the longest home run in Tropicana Field history.

The homer would have traveled an estimated 470 feet, two feet longer than Fred McGriff’s 468-foot drive against Kansas City last May 5. Glaus added a run-scoring single in the fifth and a double in the seventh, matching career-highs for hits (four) and runs batted in (four) in a game. He’s now 11 for 20 with three homers, five doubles and seven RBIs in his last four games.

“These guys are strong, man,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “I’ve heard the saying that a guy hit the ball so hard it never came down--I guess we saw it tonight.”

Was that the hardest Glaus has ever hit a ball?

“With a wood bat, yes,” he said.

The other Angel homers, as Tampa Bay Manager Larry Rothchild noted, “weren’t cheap, either.” Salmon’s first homer traveled an estimated 413 feet to left, and his second went an estimated 426 feet to straight-away center. In all, the six Angel homers traveled a combined 2,467 feet.

“It was a pretty neat night, when you think about it,” said Salmon, who is beginning to emerge from a horrendous season-opening slump. “Mo and I hit back-to-back homers twice, and then we hit three homers in an inning twice. It’s a real exciting thing, especially because it got us a win.”

The much-maligned Angel bullpen gave the team’s sluggers a chance to win this one. For the third consecutive game, an Angel starter failed to make it past the fourth inning, as left-hander Scott Schoeneweis was roughed up for six runs--five earned--on seven hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings.

Including shoddy starts by Ken Hill and Kent Bottenfield Wednesday and Thursday in Toronto, Angel starters have given up 24 earned runs on 28 hits in 10 1/3 innings of their last three games.

But after the Angels tied the score, 6-6, on Glaus’ RBI single and Bengie Molina’s RBI double in the top of the fifth, relievers Al Levine (2 1/3), Mark Petkovsek (2 1/3) and Troy Percival (1) combined for 5 2/3 scoreless innings.

Petkovsek, one of the Angels’ set-up men, had entered with a 14.14 earned-run average but retired all seven batters he faced to lower his ERA to 10.61. Percival retired three batters in a row in the ninth for his fifth save, and he hasn’t given up a hit in his last five appearances, all saves.

“The bullpen stepped up big-time,” Scioscia said. “Al did a good job, and that looked like the Petkovsek we saw for a long time last year. He had great command, and he and Al put up four zeros for us to get to [Percival]. That was huge.”