Percival Anchors Victory as Angels Beat Indians, 3-1

Angel starter Ismael Valdes, forced out of Wednesday night’s game after five innings because of a nasty blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand, turned a blood-spattered ball over to reliever Al Levine, and the relay race was on.

Four innings, three more relievers, six hits and three major scares later, closer Troy Percival took the Angels across the finish line, throwing a scoreless ninth to tame his Jacobs Field demons and preserve the Angels’ 3-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians before a crowd of 31,396.

Percival had an 0-4 career record and 18.00 earned-run average at the home of the Indians, who have tormented Percival like no other, and he took the mound wearing short sleeves as temperatures dipped to 43 degrees.

The right-hander struggled with his command, going to full counts on three batters and walking the other, but he threw a scoreless ninth for his third save.

“Any time you can give our bullpen a lead, I like our chances,” Percival said. “I’m just the last guy who grabs the baton. Those guys got into some tough jams, but they know how to make big pitches when they need to.”

In recording his first win as an Angel, Valdes (1-2) gave up only one run on four hits in five innings but had to depart because of the blister, which developed next to and underneath the same fingernail he cracked late in spring training, forcing him to start the season on the disabled list.

A day off Monday will enable Manager Mike Scioscia to push back Valdes’ next start to late next week. The blister developed in the third inning and bled during the next two innings.

“He threw with a lot of heart,” catcher Bengie Molina said. “That’s the main finger you pitch with, and he was in a lot of pain.”

Valdes was relieved by Levine, who got himself in and out of trouble in the sixth but needed left-hander Mike Holtz to bail him out in the seventh.

The Indians put two on with one out in the sixth when Roberto Alomar and Juan Gonzalez each singled, but Levine got the dangerous Jim Thome to bounce back to the mound and struck out Ellis Burks with a nasty sinker.

Russell Branyan doubled with one out in the seventh and took third on Einar Diaz’s sharp single to left. Holtz came on to retire Kenny Lofton on a fly to shallow center and Omar Vizquel on a grounder to third.

Angel right-hander Shigetoshi Hasegawa ran into turbulence in the eighth when Thome singled with two out and Burks dribbled an infield single toward third.

Hasegawa slipped as he fielded Burks’ ball, and his throw sailed into right field, enabling Thome to take third. But Hasegawa got Wil Cordero to ground to third to end the inning.

Next up was Percival, who hadn’t had a save opportunity since April 8. He struck out Branyan, got pinch-hitter Jacob Cruz to pop to third, walked Lofton and retired Vizquel on a fly ball to center.

“Today was a good test, because I’ve had a hard time here,” Percival said. “This mound is tall and flat, so I dropped down to a three-quarter arm angle and controlled my pitches instead of heaving them in at 100 mph. That’s a weapon I used to have, but I haven’t used it in a while.”

The Angels needed such bullpen wizardry because after scoring once in the first on Shawn Wooten’s RBI infield single and twice in the second on Benji Gil’s RBI triple and Tim Salmon’s RBI fielder’s choice, they managed only one hit, Troy Glaus’ fifth-inning bloop single, the rest of the way.

The Angels failed to take advantage of Indian starter C.C. Sabathia’s early control problems, leaving the bases loaded in the first and second innings, but their pitching and defense--other than Hasegawa’s error--were sound.

Wooten, who doesn’t have much experience at first base, made a backhanded, diving stop of Thome’s grounder in the second, turning a potential first-and-third, no-out situation into a forceout at second.

Second baseman David Eckstein turned an unassisted double play in the fifth, and Glaus made a diving catch to his left of Alomar’s liner in the eighth.

“I have to give credit to my bullpen and my teammates, they played great defense,” Valdes said. “They did it all tonight.”