Same Scenario, Better Ending for Percival

Just as Angel Manager Mike Scioscia promised the night before, closer Troy Percival was “back on the horse” Wednesday night, with a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth against the Baltimore Orioles.

Only this time, the horse didn’t buck Percival out of the saddle and hurl him to the ground. Percival pitched a hitless inning to preserve the Angels’ 6-5 victory over the Orioles before 37,961 in Camden Yards.

Presented with the same situation and score he faced Tuesday, when he was tagged for two runs and a 7-6 loss, Percival got nemesis Mike Bordick, who knocked in the game winner Tuesday, and Brady Anderson on routine fly balls, and, after Delino DeShields’ walk and stolen base, retired B.J. Surhoff on a fly ball to the warning track in center.

Percival, pitching in his fourth consecutive game sandwiched around Monday’s off day, earned his seventh save and another heaping portion of respect from his teammates.

“Being a closer is a do-or-die thing,” first baseman Mo Vaughn said. “It’s like coming up with the tying run on second base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth every night. Only certain people can do that job, but he has the perfect makeup for it--you have to be kind of cocky and crazy.”

And very thick-skinned.

“That’s because you know you’re going to get beat sometimes, and you take the heat,” Percival said. “Your teammates play nine innings, and if the closer doesn’t get the outs, he’s the loser. And when you get the job done, unless you save 40 in a row or something, no one is going to know about it.”

Percival’s performance was one of three solid relief efforts behind Angel starter Ramon Ortiz, who gave up four runs on four hits in five innings to gain the victory but left in the sixth because of a cut on his right index finger.

Left-hander Mike Holtz, who was recalled from triple-A Edmonton Saturday, got Anderson to ground weakly to second with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, after the Orioles scored twice to pull to within 6-5.

Right-hander Mark Petkovsek retired the dangerous Albert Belle with a runner on first in the seventh and threw a scoreless eighth, and he has not given up a run in his last seven appearances, a span of 8 2/3 innings.

“His contribution was huge,” Manager Mike Scioscia said of Petkovsek. “And look what Holtz did. [Anderson] was the biggest out of the game, right there.”

There were four big hits in the game for the Angels, back-to-back home runs by Matt Walbeck and Benji Gil in the third, and Vaughn’s leadoff homer--his 14th career homer in Camden Yards--and Garret Anderson’s two-run homer in the sixth, which snapped an 0-for-15 skid and gave the Angels a 6-3 lead. Anderson borrowed one of Troy Glaus’ bats for the homer.

The Angels now rank second in the American League behind Toronto with 40 home runs, and of their 153 runs this season, 62 have scored on home runs. Could they be relying too much on the long ball?

“That better not be the case,” Vaughn said. “We better not be trying to hit home runs. You want to try to hit line drives and try to hit the ball where it’s pitched. But when pitchers make mistakes, we’re going to hit some home runs.”

Scioscia said the Angels are still doing a good job manufacturing runs, “but that’s getting overshadowed because our big guys are driving the ball more.”

The Angels almost squandered their lead in the bottom of the sixth. Surhoff led off with a walk and Scioscia summoned right-hander Shigetoshi Hasegawa, who entered with a shaky 10.97 earned-run average and left with an even more inflated 11.12 ERA. By the time he departed, the Orioles had pulled within 6-5 and loaded the bases with one out. Holtz ended the threat. Then it was time for Petkovsek and Percival.

“If [Percival] stumbles one night, it’s important to get him back out there as soon as possible,” Scioscia said. “He’s really good at keeping his short-term focus and turning the page.”