Erstad Goes Above, Beyond but His Effort Isn’t Enough

The American League West apparently won’t go anywhere without them. So, if the Angels require more time to gather themselves, they’ll probably have it.

Still, last place, even in mid-May, even when the distance to first place is a couple of games, didn’t look good on them, perhaps because the losses are coming with uncomfortable regularity now.

The Baltimore Orioles defeated the Angels, 4-3, before 15,881 Tuesday night at Edison Field, where two home runs and a near home run beat Angel starter Kent Bottenfield and ended an Oriole losing streak at seven games.

From a 3-1 deficit entering the sixth inning, the Orioles rallied on a two-run homer by Mike Bordick, then went ahead in the eighth on Jeff Conine’s sacrifice fly off reliever Mark Petkovsek.

That left fielder Darin Erstad pulled Conine’s drive back from over the fence, thereby stealing a home run, was of little consolation to the Angels, who lost for the fifth time in eight games on the home stand.

It made a winner of Scott Erickson (1-1), whose earned-run average was 12.46 in two starts since returning from arthroscopic surgery on his pitching elbow. He gave up three runs in seven innings, none after the fourth inning, lowering his ERA to 8.62.

Bottenfield, who has pitched well in eight-of-nine starts since arriving from St. Louis, regretted only a handful of pitches, among them the one Bordick hit into the left-field stands and the one Delino DeShields hit off the right-field fence to start the eighth.

“I had it working pretty good,” Bottenfield said. “Just not good enough.

“I’ve got to learn to be better deep in the game.”

If the Angels are to stay competitive in the West--they believe they can despite their thinning pitching staff--they won’t have the luxury of losing Bottenfield starts very often. Youngsters Scott Schoeneweis, Jarrod Washburn and Jason Dickson follow Bottenfield.

“There are things I’ve got to do to control the game better,” Bottenfield said. “I had a two-run lead. They gave me the lead. That’s all I can ask for at that point.”

Bottenfield left with the score tied, 3-3, with one out in the eighth. But DeShields, who doubled to start the inning, was at third base. Conine hit the first pitch from Petkovsek into left-center field. Erstad raced to the track, leaped and plucked the ball from above the fence.

While the crowd cheered the play, DeShields trotted home with what became the game-winning run.

“You’re not going to hang this loss on Kent,” Manager Mike Scioscia said, “and say he blew a lead. One hit here or there and it’s a whole different situation for him.”

Bottenfield threw first-pitch strikes to 22 of 32 batters, and seemed in control of the Oriole order. He threw to catcher Bengie Molina for the first time since the season’s first week, and appeared as comfortable as ever. Molina also had two more hits.

Bottenfield was, however, a couple of pitches shy of victory.

The Orioles hadn’t won in more than a week--which is more severe in the AL East than, say, in the AL West, where the division title appears vulnerable to the slightest stretch of dynamic play.

As a result of the losing streak, the Orioles are a lot closer to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays than they are the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees.

The Orioles hadn’t had a starter win a game since April 29, the bullpen gave up 22 runs in 10 2/3 innings in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Red Sox last weekend, and the team ERA is a league-worst 5.95. This from a pitching staff with Mike Mussina in its rotation, albeit a Mike Mussina who is curiously 1-5.

Add to that another toothless start by Albert Belle, who hit his fifth home run in the second against Bottenfield (3-4), and Will Clark’s two-week ride on the disabled list, and you have reason for further angst in Baltimore.

Asked if the win constituted a rebirth for his flailing club, Oriole Manager Mike Hargrove said, “That’s like a guy that’s 0 for 30 getting a hit and you guys writing he’s out of his slump. Not necessarily. We’ll see tomorrow.”

After the game, the Angels made a roster move, optioning Trent Durrington to triple-A Edmonton and purchasing the contract of infielder Keith Luuloa.