Angels Soar on Gil’s Bat

The secret to offensive success was simple for the Angels on Tuesday. Let Benji Gil swing the bat. Everyone else take.

That worked well in an 8-7 victory over the San Diego Padres before 30,181 at Edison Field.

Gil, who lost his shortstop job earlier this season, hit two home runs, helping the Angels overcome a 7-2 deficit. His three-run shot in the eighth tied the score, 7-7.

Except for Gil, the offense was passive. The Angels got three runs without swinging, among them the winner in the ninth.

Garret Anderson and Scott Spiezio had consecutive singles with two out, which brought closer Trevor Hoffman from the bullpen. Hoffman walked Troy Glaus and Shawn Wooten, forcing in the winning run.

“This was an unusual one, but there are a lot of ways to win ballgames--base hits, walks, errors, steals of home,” Glaus said.

Gil took care of the conventional stuff.

He had a solo homer in the fifth for the first Angel run. Three innings later, he bombed an 0-and-1 pitch into the right-field seats for the second two-homer game of his career.

He had two home runs against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on July 7.

“I think we’ll have Benji bat fourth tomorrow, then change jersey numbers and hit seventh or eighth,” Manager Mike Scioscia joked.

Gil will be happy to see his name appear once in the batting order. He began the season as the shortstop but was replaced by rookie David Eckstein.

“Every day I look and hope to see my name in the lineup,” Gil said. “It’s been frustrating. I feel I have worked hard to become a complete player. I feel I can contribute and help this team win.

“It’s difficult when you are only in there once or twice a week. You have a bad at-bat and it wears on you a little more.”

Gil’s numbers are hard to ignore, especially the way the Angel offense has sputtered. He has never hit higher than .239 in his career, but is hitting .342 after going three for four Tuesday. He has eight home runs, one shy of his career high in 1995, when he was with the Texas Rangers.

“We’ve said for the last month that we needed to find ways to get Benji’s bat in the lineup,” Scioscia said. “He has taken advantage of the opportunities.”

Now if Scioscia could get others moving in that direction. Gil’s power allowed the Angels to gloss over another lackluster day at the plate.

There were a few bright spots beyond Gil. The Angels scored all their runs with two outs. They overcame their largest deficit of the season. Orlando Palmeiro and Adam Kennedy followed Gil’s fifth-inning homer with doubles to tie the score, 2-2.

The Angels’ offensive struggles were highlighted in the third, when they failed to score after loading the bases with no outs.

The Padres, meanwhile, showed they were quite capable in the same situation.

After starting pitcher Scott Schoeneweis loaded the bases to start the sixth, Ben Davis slammed a double to left. Davis scored on a sacrifice fly, giving the Padres a 6-2 lead.

Bubba Trammell’s home run in the seventh gave the Padres a 7-2 lead.

“You could feel in the dugout, even after they scored those four runs, that we weren’t out of this thing,” Scioscia said.

The Angels responded with some clutch looking after loading the bases in the seventh.

Singles by Bengie Molina and Gil, and a walk to Palmeiro, loaded the bases with one out. After Kennedy struck out on three pitches, Erstad walked on four, forcing home Molina.

Garret Anderson watched reliever Jose Nunez’s 0-and-2 pitch sail to the backstop, allowing Gil to score. Anderson struck out to end the inning.

Said Scioscia: “With the way we’ve been struggling, if we score runs with two outs or by manufacturing them a little bit, we’ll take it.”