Angels Mix In Some Breaks With Heroics

Maybe those blistering line drives are overrated. As the Angels discovered Wednesday night, it’s not always how far or how hard you hit the ball, but where and when you hit it.

Darin Erstad’s grounder was just slow enough to score Adam Kennedy from third with the tying run in the eighth inning, and Kennedy’s flare was just soft enough to drop into shallow right-center field for the winning run in the ninth, as the Angels pulled out a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Oakland Athletics before 17,962 in Edison Field.

“I got just not enough of it for it to fall in front of the outfielder,” Kennedy said after the Angels, on the strength of Scott Schoeneweis’ sterling pitching and a game-saving play by first baseman Scott Spiezio, snapped a four-game losing streak. “Sometimes it pays not to hit the ball hard.”

With the score tied, 2-2, Troy Glaus and Garret Anderson opened the ninth with singles off reliever Jim Mecir. Bengie Molina fouled off a bunt attempt on the first pitch before popping to first for an out.

Oakland Manager Art Howe summoned closer Jason Isringhausen, who struck out Glenallen Hill and jumped ahead of Kennedy with a 1-2 count. But with Glaus running on the next pitch, Kennedy looped a two-out single to right-center for the win and his third hit of the game.

“They do it every time for me,” said Schoeneweis, who gave up two runs on six hits in 7 2/3 innings but got a no-decision. “I definitely never give up hope with the way we battle late in the game. They got me off the hook again.”

Schoeneweis gave up the two runs in a heartbreaking eighth, when the A’s erased a 1-0 deficit to take a 2-1 lead. But Kennedy, who singled and scored the Angels’ first run in the third, opened the bottom of the eighth with a long fly ball that took an odd carom off the top of the right-field wall toward the corner.

By the time A’s outfielder Adam Piatt retrieved the ball, Kennedy pulled into third for a stand-up triple. Howe argued fan interference, and slow-motion replays indicated that a fan leaning over the railing touched the ball, but the call stood.

With the infield in, Spiezio, pinch-hitting for Benji Gil, grounded out to second, Kennedy holding. Erstad followed with a slow roller to first, and Kennedy got such a good jump that he easily beat first baseman Jason Giambi’s throw home to tie the game, 2-2.

The A’s threatened in the top of the ninth when Terrence Long doubled to left-center with one out, but Spiezio, who remained in the game at first base, made a spectacular diving catch of Ramon Hernandez’s liner that seemed destined for the right-field corner.

“I don’t know how Spiezio caught that ball,” Kennedy said. “That saved the game for us.”

Through seven innings Wednesday night, left-handed batters had gone two for 30 (.067) against Schoeneweis this season, but three lefties burned the Angel left-hander for crucial hits in the eighth.

Eric Chavez opened the inning with a double over Garret Anderson’s head in left, but Scioscia didn’t even flinch on the Angel bench. Schoeneweis had given up only three hits in the first seven innings, and Scioscia showed so much confidence in his starter that he didn’t order any relievers to warm up.

Frank Menechino flied to left for the first out. Johnny Damon then rifled a one-hop single that reached right fielder Tim Salmon so quickly he was unable to field it cleanly. Chavez scored without a play for a 1-1 tie.

Damon stole second and Miguel Tejada grounded out. Up stepped Jason Giambi, the 2000 American League most valuable player, with first base open. The Angels opted to pitch to him, and Giambi made them pay, lofting an RBI double into the gap in left-center to give the A’s a 2-1 lead.

The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the third, only the third time in 15 games this season they have scored first. Kennedy opened with a single to right-center and scored on Wally Joyner’s two-out single to right.