Angels Can’t Cash In on Weak Bonds

The hottest hitter in baseball brought out the best in Angel pitcher Scott Schoeneweis, who struck out San Francisco Giant slugger Barry Bonds, who has a major league-leading 33 home runs, three times Wednesday night.

A platoon player who had two homers and eight runs batted in this season brought out the worst, if ever so briefly, in Schoeneweis, whose fastball to Shawon Dunston in the seventh inning was belted for a home run to lift the Giants to a 1-0 victory over the Angels before 37,119 at Pacific Bell Park.

“The pitch was down, but Shawon is a great low-ball hitter,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Scott got the ball in a decent zone for most guys, but he threw it to the wrong hitter at the wrong time.”

Schoeneweis’ thigh-high pitch to Dunston, which landed in the left-field bleachers, was his only mistake as the left-hander gave up five hits, struck out six and walked three in seven innings.

But that effort wasn’t good enough to defeat Giant right-hander Russ Ortiz, who gave up only five hits, struck out two and walked three in eight innings before yielding to closer Robb Nen, who struck out two of three in the ninth for his 17th save.

Ortiz was not overpowering, but he had good command of his curveball and changeup and handed the Angels and their revamped lineup their fifth shutout loss of the season, matching their total of last year.

Schoeneweis’ superb performance lowered the earned-run average of Angel starting pitchers to 2.28 in the last 17 games, but the Angels have won only 10 of the 17 and are now 18 1/2 games behind Seattle in the American League West.

“Any time you lose, 1-0 . . . he was kicking himself for giving up one stinking home run,” Angel right fielder Tim Salmon said of Schoeneweis. “Come on. We should have gotten at least one run. We should have walked out of here on a cloud. He threw a great game.”

So did Ortiz, but there was no indication of this coming. Though he entered the game tied for fifth in the National League with seven victories, Ortiz was hardly a picture of efficiency in recent weeks, going 1-3 with a 6.58 ERA in his previous five starts.

But the Angel offense has been a slump-buster for struggling pitchers this past week, scoring two runs or less in four of the last six games, and Ortiz took advantage, limiting the Angels to a double and four singles, including a bloop and an infield hit, through eight innings.

Still, the Angels had three decent chances to score when they put runners on first and third with one out in the second, singled with a runner on second in the fifth and had runners on first and second with one out in the sixth.

The second-inning rally ended when Wally Joyner hit a soft liner that third baseman Russ Davis caught on the fly, just above the ground. Troy Glaus, who was on third, had come home and crossed the plate, thinking Joyner’s liner had hit the ground first, and ended up part of a double play.

Jorge Fabregas’ two-out single and Ortiz’s second walk to Schoeneweis put two on with two out in the fifth. David Eckstein singled sharply to left, and third base coach Ron Roenicke gambled by sending Fabregas.

Bonds fielded the ball in shallow left before Fabregas reached third. His throw home was about 10 feet up the third-base line, but it got to catcher Bobby Estalella on the fly in plenty of time to nail Fabregas.

Was Scioscia OK with Roenicke’s decision? “Absolutely,” he said. “It was a ground-ball hit, the throw was off line. If Fabregas got there quicker he had a chance to beat it. We’re not going to be passive. It’s a risk, but I’m all for making them make that play.”

The Angels’ sixth-inning threat ended with Garret Anderson’s 4-6-3 double play. They had one baserunner in the last three innings, leaving Schoeneweis’ dominance of Bonds, who struck out swinging at a slider in the first, looking at a slider in the fourth and looking at a fastball in the sixth, as the Angels’ only highlight.

“He’s a great hitter, and he’s going to raise the level of your performance,” Schoeneweis said. “I take pride in being tough on left- handers, and that’s going to intensify against him. . . . Unfortunately, that pitch to Dunston was bad timing on my part.”