Angels Can’t Get the Key Hit in Loss

Right fielder Tim Salmon hit four home runs in his previous three games, several of them landing far beyond the wall in Edison Field, but when all the Angels needed was a fly ball to the outfield, he couldn’t deliver.

Trailing by a run, Salmon grounded into a bases-loaded double play in the bottom of the eighth inning Wednesday night, and the Oakland Athletics added two insurance runs in the ninth for a 4-1 victory before a crowd of 15,356, ending the Angels’ season-high win streak at five games.

“I’ll take Tim Salmon in that situation whether he’s hitting .190 or he’s hitting .390,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We have as much confidence in Tim as we do in any other hitter on our team.”

A’s right-hander Tim Hudson was his usual dominant self against the Angels, mixing his 91-mph fastball with a good split-fingered fastball and a devastating changeup to limit the Angels to one run and three hits in seven innings.

Hudson is 3-0 with a 1.64 earned-run average in three starts against the Angels this season, and he has a 6-1 career record and 3.80 ERA against them. But a curious move by Oakland Manager Art Howe to pull Hudson after seven innings and 106 pitches nearly cost Hudson (6-3) the victory.

Down by a run, David Eckstein sparked the Angels’ eighth-inning uprising with a one-out single off Jeff Tam. Darin Erstad walked on four pitches, and Troy Glaus followed with a chopper that bounced high off the plate to shortstop Miguel Tejada.

Tejada double-clutched after gloving the ball, allowing Glaus to beat his throw to first to load the bases. Salmon, who began the game hitting .073 (three for 41) with runners in scoring position, then fisted an inside pitch toward the middle.

Tejada fielded the ball near second, stepped on the bag and threw to first for the double play.

Had the Angels tied the score or gone ahead in the eighth, Scioscia would have gone to closer Troy Percival in the ninth. With a one-run deficit, Scioscia instead summoned Ben Weber, who gave up Tejada’s infield single and Eric Chavez’s game-sealing, two-run home run that gave Oakland a 4-1 lead.

Angel right-hander Pat Rapp gave up only two runs and nine hits in seven innings to continue a remarkable run by Angel starting pitchers, who have combined to go 5-2 with a 1.89 ERA in the last 10 games.

But Scioscia might have stuck with Rapp for one batter too long. With the score tied, 1-1, Chavez opened the seventh with a single and was erased on Olmedo Saenz’s fielder’s choice.

Rapp struck out Robin Jennings swinging at a high fastball for the second out, and Ramon Hernandez singled to left to put runners on first and second. Left-hander Mike Holtz was warm in the Angel bullpen, but Scioscia let Rapp pitch to Johnny Damon, Oakland’s left-handed leadoff batter.

Damon stroked a single to right to score Saenz for a 2-1 lead. The rally ended when Hernandez was gunned down at third by first baseman Wally Joyner’s relay throw.

“I liked the matchup there,” Scioscia said. “I thought Pat had good stuff. Sometimes you have to tip your cap. Johnny went down and dug out a breaking ball. It wasn’t that bad of a pitch.”

That seems to be the story line for Rapp lately. His pitches aren’t that bad, but his results are. He fell to 1-6 Wednesday, but his ERA dropped to 4.63. Rapp is 1-3 with a 3.21 ERA in his last seven starts.

“I just try to pitch my game and keep us close,” Rapp said. “Lately, that’s all I’ve been able to do, keep us close. I’m picking up loss after loss, but at least my ERA is coming down.”

Said Scioscia: “You look at Rapp’s 1-6 record, and that thing could be flip-flopped. As long as he keeps pitching this consistently, he’s going to win a lot of games for us.”

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