Schoeneweis, Angels Find Solid Ground

The scoreboard isn’t necessarily the best indicator of how Angel left-hander Scott Schoeneweis is pitching. The scorecard is.

“When you go back and see they didn’t hit many balls in the air,” Schoeneweis said, “that’s a good clue I’m doing what I want to do.”

There was no mystery to Schoeneweis’ mastery Thursday. He induced 17 ground-ball outs in 7 1/3 innings to lead the Angels to a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins before 13,552 in the Metrodome.

After getting raked for 24 runs and 31 hits in 25 innings of his last four starts, Schoeneweis (5-2) regained command of his sinker and reclaimed the inside corner. He gave up one run and six hits and outpitched Twin ace Brad Radke, who entered with an 8-3 record and 1.81 earned-run average against the Angels.

Mo Vaughn, who said he has no idea why he’s had so much success (.409 average, four homers) against Radke, hit his team-leading 17th home run in the first inning. The Angels broke a 1-1 tie with runs in the eighth and ninth, both scoring on bloop hits, and swept a three-game series for the first time this season.

Reliever Al Levine retired two batters with two on to end the eighth, and closer Troy Percival, making his third appearance in three days, withstood a Twin challenge in the ninth to record his American League-leading 14th save, preserving Schoeneweis’ first victory since April 26.

Schoeneweis had some willing victims in the Twins. Recent opponents have been laying off his sinker, which Schoeneweis likes to throw on the fringe of the strike zone early in the count, and when Schoeneweis fell behind, he was forced to come over the plate far too often.

But the Twins are essentially a triple-A team in major league clothes, full of young hitters who have not learned the value of patience at the plate, and they never solved Schoeneweis.

“They’re very aggressive, they like to swing early in the count, and that plays right into my hands,” Schoeneweis said. “But I also executed my pitches a lot better. It’s nice because I haven’t had a good game in awhile.”

Vaughn has had plenty. The first baseman has been on a tear since May 8, hitting .435 with 10 homers and 22 runs batted in in 15 games, but he also flashed some fine leather Thursday, diving to his right to catch Matt Lawton’s low liner in the sixth to start one of four inning-ending double plays.

Third baseman Troy Glaus, whose errant throw to the plate in the fifth allowed Butch Huskey to score, atoned for the mistake later in the inning by starting a 5-4-3 double play with runners on first and third.

Radke had a five-hitter in the eighth when Darin Erstad reached on a two-out single and Orlando Palmeiro’s bloop dropped between left fielder Jacque Jones and center fielder Torii Hunter.

The ball caromed off Jones’ glove and slightly toward center, giving Erstad, running with the crack of the bat, just enough time to score from first for a 2-1 lead. Tim Salmon singled and scored on Matt Walbeck’s bloop double to left in the ninth.

After providing only four quality starts (six innings or more, three earned runs or less) in 24 games from April 27-May 23, young left-handers Jarrod Washburn and Schoeneweis gave the injury-ravaged Angel rotation consecutive quality starts Wednesday and Thursday.