Angels Are Slowed by Bad Cruz Control

The sting in Ramon Ortiz’s sore shoulder, which knocked the right-hander out of the game in the second inning Saturday night, seemed even more severe to the Angels later in the evening.

After overcoming a five-run deficit to tie the score, the Angels squandered a chance to go ahead in the eighth and to win in the ninth, wasting a superb effort by long reliever Lou Pote.

Jose Cruz Jr. then homered off reliever Al Levine in the top of the 10th, lifting the Toronto Blue Jays to a 7-6 victory before 27,927 at Edison Field and dropping the Angels six games behind Oakland in the wild-card race.

With the score tied, 6-6, David Eckstein and Darin Erstad led off the bottom of the ninth with singles, but Blue Jay reliever Paul Quantrill struck out Troy Glaus looking at a fastball.

Left-hander Dan Plesac came on to retire Garret Anderson on a fielder’s choice and strike out Scott Spiezio looking to end the inning.

Billy Koch retired the side in order in the 10th for his 26th save.

Spiezio singled to open the eighth and took third on Tim Salmon’s single to left-center.

Blue Jay shortstop Alex Gonzalez cut off the throw from the outfield and caught Salmon too far off the first-base bag.

Salmon was tagged out in a rundown, giving the Blue Jays the luxury of intentionally walking Adam Kennedy, who had homered, doubled and singled in three previous at-bats. Quantrill struck out Bengie Molina, and Orlando Palmeiro grounded to short to end the inning.

Trailing, 6-1, the Angels scored three runs in the third, an inning that began with singles by Spiezio and Salmon and an RBI single by Kennedy. Molina struck out, Palmeiro lined a run-scoring single to right-center, moving Kennedy to third, and Eckstein lifted a fly ball to medium right-center.

Blue Jay right fielder Raul Mondesi, who has one of baseball’s strongest throwing arms, stepped in front of center fielder Cruz to make the catch, and Kennedy tagged from third.

Mondesi threw a strike to catcher Darrin Fletcher in plenty of time to nail Kennedy, but Kennedy used a hard slide and his right knee to knock the ball out of Fletcher’s glove and score the third run of the inning.

The Angels pulled to within 6-5 in the fifth when Eckstein singled, took third on Erstad’s single and scored on Glaus’ double-play grounder.

Kennedy tied the score, 6-6, in the sixth with a solo homer to right, taking Ortiz off the hook.

Whether Ortiz can stay off the disabled list is another story. Ortiz was diagnosed with a slight tear in his labrum in spring training of 2000, but the Angels did not deem the injury severe enough to warrant surgery.

A rehabilitation and strengthening program was recommended, and that seemed a prudent course. After a two-week absence to start the season, Ortiz threw 2061/3 innings in 2000--1111/3 in Anaheim, 89 at triple-A Edmonton and six at Class-A Lake Elsinore.

Ortiz has not missed a start in 2001, and he has been one of the Angels’ most effective pitchers since June 20, going 6-2 with a 3.92 earned-run average in nine games and giving up only two earned runs in each of his last four starts.

But Ortiz did not look right Saturday night. He gave up a double to Cruz to open the game but caught a break when Cruz was thrown out attempting to steal third.

Gonzalez and Shannon Stewart each singled, and Carlos Delgado walked to load the bases. Brad Fullmer was hit by a pitch to force in one run, and Felipe Lopez singled to make it 2-0.

Glaus homered to right-center, his 32nd, in the bottom of the first to make the score 2-1, but the Blue Jays bombed Ortiz in the second, with Cruz, Stewart and Delgado ripping solo homers.

After a walk to Mondesi, Scioscia, pitching coach Bud Black and Angel trainer Ned Bergert came to the mound, and Ortiz was pulled.

Pote gave up an RBI double to Lopez that gave Toronto a 6-1 lead, but the right-hander retired the next 13 batters, giving the Angels a chance to come back and capping a remarkable week for the long reliever.

Pote, who made an emergency start for ailing left-hander Scott Schoeneweis and gave up one run and four hits in five inning of Monday’s 3-1 victory in New York, appeared in three games in six days, giving up two runs and nine hits in 111/3 innings, striking out eight, walking one and throwing 151 pitches.