Angels Turn on Power at Edison Field

There was no finesse in the way the Angels went about beating the Tampa Bay Devil Rays Thursday. It was about as subtle as a slap in the face.

The Angels flexed some muscle in a 5-3 victory in front of 15,782 at Edison Field. They hit four home runs, including consecutive ones by Troy Glaus, Darin Erstad and Garret Anderson in the first inning. There was little use for little ball.

“Oh man, I don’t know where that came from,” said catcher Bengie Molina, who led off the second inning with a home run. “I just hope we have more of them. That was incredible.”

The power was impressive, even if it overshadowed some of the other things the Angels did well.

They received great pitching. Ramon Ortiz added to a string of quality starts and Troy Percival, who missed two games because of muscle spasms in his back and right hip, breezed through a 1-2-3 ninth.

They had a highlight-reel defensive play. In the eighth, Erstad chased down Ben Grieve’s drive, sprinting to his right and extending his body to make a one-hand catch, then hanging onto the ball after hitting the ground.

But mainly, they hit home runs.

True, this came against the Devil Rays, who have the worst record in the major leagues, and by the second inning the reason was clear. Starter Ryan Rupe faced only nine batters, giving up five hits, four of which were home runs.

He walked leadoff batter David Eckstein, which in hindsight was one of Rupe’s highlights for the game. After he threw five more pitches, the Angels had a 4-0 lead.

Glaus, Erstad and Anderson all bombed home runs. Glaus’ shot landed in the back of the bullpen in left. Erstad’s went well back into the seats down the right-field line. Anderson’s came down in the seats in right-center.

It was the sixth time in club history that the Angels have had three consecutive home runs. The last time was June 24, 2000 against Minnesota, when Anderson, Glaus and Scott Spiezio homered consecutively.

The Angels had seven hits, but scored five runs.

“You can get 15 hits, but if you get only a couple runs, then the pitcher had a good night,” Anderson said. “It’s all about getting the clutch hits. Tonight we maximized our hits.”

Not that it will make Rupe feel better. He was out there only because Albie Lopez was traded to Arizona Wednesday. The start was so unexpected that Rupe had thrown a bullpen session on Wednesday--not that he was looking for an excuse.

“I don’t care if I ran the Boston Marathon yesterday, to give up four home runs is terrible,” Rupe said.

Angel fans appreciated the work and gave Rupe a loud ovation as he walked off the mound.

They were just as pleased with the Angel starter.

Ortiz (8-7) built on his string of solid starts. He gave up two runs in six innings, striking out five and walking one. He has gone at least six innings in his last seven starts and has a 4-2 record in that time.

“He keeps taking baby steps forward,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We already know he is capable of winning games in the major leagues. But there’s an upside there that we know he’s going to be special.”

Ortiz gave up a run in the third, as Jason Tyner’s two-out single scored Chris Gomez, who had led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a ground out.

The Devil Rays got to Ortiz again in the sixth. Tyner led off with a single and Grieve walked. Greg Vaughn then boomed a double to center, scoring Tyner and putting runners on second and third with no outs.

Ortiz didn’t crumble. He struck out Fred McGriff and Randy Winn and survived when Aubrey Huff’s line drive to center was tracked down by Erstad. Ortiz was lifted after the inning, having thrown only 77 pitches.

“He lost his mechanics,” Scioscia said. “When a pitcher is having trouble like that, throwing 77 pitches can be more stressful.”

Relievers Shigetoshi Hasegawa and Mike Holtz got the Angels to the ninth. Percival, who had a MRI exam on his back and hip Monday, blew through three batters in the ninth, hitting 98 mph on two pitches.

Said Scioscia: “Think we’ll go back and look for a spot on that MRI.”