Angels Rally for Win in 9th

Apparently buried again by their starting pitcher, the Angels won anyway Wednesday night.

Scott Spiezio drove in Tim Salmon with a one-out single in the ninth inning and the Angels defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 8-7, at Edison Field before an announced crowd of 17,697.

The Angels rallied from deficits of 3-0 in the first inning, 6-3 in the sixth and 7-4 in the seventh. Oriole Manager Mike Hargrove kept going to his bullpen, and leads kept disappearing, and the Angels kept coming.

American League batting leader Darin Erstad had three hits, the last a two-run single in the eighth off Oriole closer Mike Timlin that tied the score, 7-7. Erstad’s batting average is .382.

In the ninth, Salmon drew a leadoff walk then was bunted to second by Garret Anderson. Timlin intentionally walked Troy Glaus, who had homered and doubled in his previous two at-bats, and Spiezio lined a single to center field. It was Spiezio’s second walk-off hit in four days, the other being a ninth-inning home run against the Texas Rangers Sunday.

“It wasn’t the prettiest thing,” said Spiezio, who broke his bat on the Timlin sinker, “but I’ll take as many as I can get.”

Anderson surprised everyone when he turned and bunted toward the mound. He had decided to attempt to bunt for a hit as he left the on-deck circle.

“It felt right,” he said. “You’re not going to see me do that too much.”

The Angels won for the fourth time in nine games on the home stand, including a split of two games with the Orioles. Troy Percival (1-2) pitched a threee-walk, no-hit ninth for the win.

The Angel offense was again dynamic, particularly early against starter Pat Rapp and late against anything that strolled out of Orioles’ decrepit bullpen. But that won’t make up for poor starting pitching forever.

“If we’re going to reach the potential of this club,” Manager Mike Scioscia said, “we’re going to have to shut some teams down earlier. Catch-up will only get you so far.”

The problem with the Angels is this: In their last 19 games, they have three quality starts. That is, officially, at least six innings pitched, no more than three runs allowed. Kent Bottenfield has all three.

It is a credit to their offense that the Angels have even managed to win nine of the 19 games.

The last pitcher other than Bottenfield with a quality start was Scott Schoeneweis, on April 26, the day his record became 4-0. He is 0-2 with an 8.64 ERA since. His overall ERA is 5.46, up from 3.15. He pitched six innings against the Orioles and allowed seven runs, six earned, and left a lot of work for Angel hitters.

Scioscia said American League hitters have adjusted to the left-handed sinkerballer. The next adjustment will have to be Schoeneweis’.

“He’s still getting a feel for that,” Scioscia said. “That’s where experience is going to kick in for him.”

Five days after he allowed nine runs in six innings to the Texas Rangers, Schoeneweis allowed three runs in the first inning, then two in the second to the Orioles.

That the Angels scored three runs in the first inning against Oriole right-hander Pat Rapp appeared to be of minimal consequence to Schoeneweis. He took the 3-3 mulligan and immediately walked Charles Johnson leading off the second inning. Johnson eventually scored the Orioles’ fourth run.

Beyond the pitches that found Oriole bats, Schoeneweis sabotaged himself with two poor defensive decisions. In the second inning, he fielded a sacrifice bunt with runners at first and second and made a late decision to throw to first base. It cost him an out and perhaps two runs. The next two batters, Mike Bordick and Delino DeShields, popped out to the infield, but two runs scored when when Troy Glaus failed to cleanly field Albert Belle’s 70-foot roller.

The other, in the third inning, brought a seemingly huffy Scioscia to the mound. Jeff Conine led off by pounding a sinker off the plate and straight up. Schoeneweis charged in to make a play. Catcher Bengie Molina screamed for him to allow the ball to spin foul. Schoeneweis grabbed it anyway, just as Conine ran through first base.

Scioscia trotted to the mound, did all of the talking, and returned to the dugout. Two pitches later, Schoeneweis had Cal Ripken Jr. ground into a historic double play, the 320th of Ripken’s career. He is tied with Hank Aaron for the all-time lead.

In possibly the most mercurial start of his short career, Schoeneweis was in the game in the seventh inning, only two runs behind, maybe gaining on Scioscia’s idea of making adjustments. In the third through the sixth innings he allowed one run, and it was unearned. Scioscia came for him when DeShields led off the seventh with a double. Disenchanted two hours before, the crowd applauded Schoeneweis’ determination as he trudged from the mound.