Hasegawa Could Be Out for the Season

The Angel bullpen was dealt a severe blow Saturday when setup man Shigetoshi Hasegawa was diagnosed with a partial tear of the rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder, an injury that will sideline him indefinitely.

No surgery is planned, but if the right-hander doesn’t respond favorably to therapy in the next few weeks, he could need surgery that would knock him out for the season.

“This wasn’t good news,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Hopefully this is something that will heal itself and be more short-term than long-term. But you never know with these things.”

Hasegawa, who is 2-3 with a 4.79 earned-run average in 18 games, experienced discomfort after earning a win against Toronto on May 17. He threw two scoreless innings against Cleveland on May 19, but his shoulder didn’t respond well afterward.

Hasegawa was diagnosed with inflammation Thursday, but an MRI test Friday revealed the tear. Al Levine (2-2, 2.00 ERA) and Ben Weber (2-0, 2.61 ERA) are capable setup men, but Hasegawa’s loss reduces the bullpen’s depth.

“We have guys who can do the job, but you need more than one guy,” Scioscia said. “Shige has been so versatile, it really helps us shorten games. We can still shorten games, but I don’t know if we can do it as often.”

Hasegawa was the Angels’ most valuable pitcher last season, going 10-5 with a 3.48 ERA and nine saves in 66 games. He had the stamina to pitch three innings and the resiliency to pitch five times a week.

“This underscores the need for our starters to pitch deeper into games,” Scioscia said, perhaps not realizing starters have pitched into the seventh inning or later in 28 of 47 games. “They’ve been doing that, but it has to continue on a consistent basis.”

Leadoff batter David Eckstein, No. 2 batter Darin Erstad and No. 9 batter Adam Kennedy reached base 10 times in 17 plate appearances Saturday, combining for seven hits, two walks and five runs.

“After the first inning, we’ve got three leadoff guys,” cleanup batter Wally Joyner said of the 9-1-2 hitters. “When you’re hitting with guys on base, it puts pressure on the defense. When guys are moving around the basepaths, balls tend to find holes more often.”

Friday night’s crowd of 10,946 was the smallest in Tampa Bay’s four-year franchise history, and Saturday’s game drew only 13,496 fans, but don’t blame Eckstein or Angel reliever Scot Shields.

Eckstein, who grew up in Sanford, Fla., which is about two hours from Tampa, left about 50 tickets for relatives and friends Friday and 60 tickets Saturday. Shields, a Fort Lauderdale native who pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in his big league debut, had 25 relatives and friends at Saturday’s game.

Third baseman Troy Glaus’ first-inning double Saturday was his seventh consecutive extra-base hit on this trip. His string of extra-base hits, which included two homers and five doubles, ended with his single in the second inning. . . . Kennedy’s run-scoring double in the fifth inning Saturday was his first RBI on the road this season. . . . Five Devil Ray pitchers combined to throw 199 pitches Saturday.

TODAY

ANGELS’ ISMAEL VALDES

(2-3, 4.50 ERA)

vs. DEVIL RAYS’ BRYAN REKAR

(0-6, 5.06 ERA)

Tropicana Field, 10:15 a.m.

Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

Update--After five solid starts to open the season, in which he gave up 10 earned runs on 29 hits and only one homer in 32 innings, Valdes has been rocked for 12 runs on 19 hits, including four homers, in 12 innings of his last two starts. Rekar has the longest current losing streak--six games--in the American League. The right-hander also has the second-lowest run support in the major leagues, an average of 2.45 runs per nine innings.