Erstad Proves to Be Big in the Clutch in Angel Win

The Big Clutch? Hey, Shaq, how’s about letting Darin Erstad borrow one of your nicknames?

Erstad is far too modest to give himself a nickname, but he’s far too good to keep playing without one.

And, for this night, the Big Clutch fits.

Erstad tied his career high by driving in five runs, including the game-winner, to power the Angels to a 10-9 victory over the San Francisco Giants Wednesday at Edison Field.

He hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning and another in the sixth inning, lifting the Angels to a 9-4 lead. After the Giants tied the score, 9-9, Erstad singled home Bengie Molina with the winning run in the eighth inning.

Barry Bonds, who hit the game-winning home run Monday and a 493-foot home run Tuesday, was relatively harmless Wednesday. He got one hit, a single. And, when he charged Erstad’s single in the hope of throwing Molina out at home, he overran the ball.

Erstad’s two home runs, and another by Troy Glaus, boosted the Angels’ season total to 91. No American League team has hit more, save the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Angels, in a pitiful offensive performance last season, hit 158 home runs. They might match that by the All-Star break.

The franchise record is 192, set in 1996. They might match that by Labor Day.

If you’re a pitcher, of course, every day is a day to labor around here. No American League ballpark yields more home runs than this one, with an average of more than three per game, and Wednesday was above average.

And no American League player is more above average than Erstad. The Angels’ left fielder ranks among the top five in batting average, hits, on-base percentage, total bases, multi-hit games and batting average with runners in scoring position.

Angel starter Kent Bottenfield didn’t pitch all that well, but he should have been able to enjoy the last few innings Wednesday, secure in the belief that victory would soon be his, and his team’s. After all, he departed with a five-run lead, and the Angels needed but nine more outs.

Yet the Angels couldn’t even get five more outs before the lead had evaporated. The Giants got four runs off Al Levine in the seventh inning, two apiece on home runs from Jeff Kent and Armando Rios. They scored the tying run off Shigetoshi Hasegawa in the eighth inning, on a single by J.T. Snow.

Hasegawa persevered, though. He got Ellis Burks to hit into a double play, ending the eighth inning. After Erstad singled home Molina in the bottom of the eighth, Hasegawa worked a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out Felipe Crespo for the final out.

For the fourth consecutive start, Bottenfield failed to reach the seventh inning. He could have, certainly, given the offensive support. He simply threw too many pitches to get there, again.

“He has not been pitch-efficient,” Scioscia said.

Bottenfield thrives when he pitches to the corners of the strike zone and struggles when he does not. He struggled Wednesday, requiring 103 pitches--46 balls--to complete six innings.

He did fine over the first two innings, retiring the first six San Francisco hitters. But the 4-0 lead the Angels handed him after one inning was gone in the third. Rich Aurilia drove in two runs with a home run, Kent one with a sacrifice fly and Snow another with a single.

Bottenfield battled through three more innings without giving up another run but without regaining his sharpness. He walked one in the fourth, one in the fifth and one in the sixth, but the Giants failed to score.

On this score, however, there was no debate: Bottenfield was undoubtedly the best starting pitcher in the house Wednesday.

San Francisco starter Russ Ortiz has won only once in his eight starts since April 21. The Giants had to score 16 runs to win that game, in which Ortiz gave up 10. In this new era, you wouldn’t want to bet against that happening again, but it didn’t happen Wednesday.

By the time Ortiz got three outs, the Angels already had four runs.