Angel Bullpen Falters

Baseball’s best bullpen took one on the chin Saturday night.

The Angels had the Arizona Diamondbacks down early. For one of the few times, they had longtime nemesis Randy Johnson where they wanted him. And they had the only bullpen in the major leagues with an earned-run average under 3.00.

But all it amounted to was a 7-5 loss in front of 33,044 at Edison Field.

The Angel bullpen twice blew one-run leads. And Troy Percival, one of baseball’s premier closers and having perhaps his best season, was unable to keep the score tied in the ninth.

Percival, who had allowed only three earned runs all season, walked Luis Gonzalez with one out. Matt Williams doubled in Gonzalez, and Steve Finley’s two-out double scored Williams.

So much for Angel prosperity.

Until the bullpen got involved, things couldn’t have gone much better for the Angels.

They scored five runs off Johnson. They gave Jarrod Washburn, their best starting pitcher, a 4-0 lead.

But Washburn left after five innings, only the second time in 14 starts he has failed to reach the sixth. He was leading, 4-3, and normally, going to the Angel bullpen is a good thing. This time, disaster followed.

Shigetoshi Hasegawa breezed through the sixth, but Manager Mike Scioscia went with the percentages, using left-hander Mike Holtz to face left-handed pinch-hitter Craig Counsell.

Counsell dumped a hit into left but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. Jay Bell, a right-handed hitter, launched Holtz’s next pitch into the right-field seats, tying the score, 4-4.

The Angels scratched out a run in the seventh. David Eckstein doubled and went to third on Darin Erstad’s fly to right. Eckstein scored on Troy Glaus’ sacrifice fly to center field for a 5-4 lead.

Al Levine couldn’t hold it, although he deserved a better fate. Finley led off the eighth with a broken-bat single to left. David Delluci legged out an infield hit on a high chopper. One out later, Tony Womack beat out a slow roller, loading the bases. Then Counsell’s sacrifice fly scored Finley to tie the score.

Little things like that got Johnson off the hook.

Johnson has owned the Angels over the years. He has a 15-6 lifetime record and is 6-1 in his last eight starts against them.

“With a pitcher like Randy, you don’t see a lot of mistakes,” Scioscia said. “And with his velocity and that slider, he can get away with many mistakes. You have to take advantage of every opportunity.”

Scioscia juggled his lineup because of Johnson. So the good news for designated hitter Shawn Wooten was he was batting cleanup. The bad news was . . .

“It’s Randy Johnson,” Wooten said.

That didn’t seem to matter.

After Glaus walked with two outs in the first, Wooten dumped a single into right. Garret Anderson lined the next pitch over the head of right fielder Reggie Sanders. Glaus scored and Wooten lumbered home from first, beating a bad relay throw from first baseman Mark Grace.

Benji Gil smacked a 1-1 pitch into the Angel bullpen in left to lead off the second for his sixth home run of the season and third in his last four games.

In the third, Erstad led off with a single and went to third when Johnson’s pickoff throw sailed into right field. Erstad scored on a sacrifice fly by Wooten, his seventh RBI in the last five games.

“I’m not letting pitchers get me out before they throw a pitch,” Wooten said. “I’ve tried not to let any pitcher pysch me out this season.”

Washburn seemed to have the Diamondbacks mumbling to themselves, at least through four innings. He gave up leadoff hits in the second, third and fourth, yet wriggled out of each inning without giving up a run.

Grace doubled to lead off the second. Washburn struck out the next three batters. Womack singled in the third. One out later, Washburn picked him off first base. Williams doubled to lead off the third. Washburn set down the next three.

That pattern was broken, when Damian Miller led off the fifth with a single. By the time the inning was over, Washburn had given up three runs on four hits. Junior Spivey had a run-scoring double, Bell a sacrifice fly and Williams an RBI single.

*

RELATED STORIES

Ross Newhan: Alderson trying to get umpires to call strikes. D4

High Notes: Flannery remembers his father with music. D5

Moving Up: McGwire passes Jackson on all-time homer list. D6

On Fire: Mariners’ Garcia is 11-1 after fifth win in a row. D6