Angels’ Rally in Ninth Is Wasted Against Twins

There has a lot of groping and much soul searching by the Angels to find their form of 2000, when they terrorized opposing pitchers.

“It’s been frustrating,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We’ve tried to back some guys off and tried to get them to relax.”

All Scioscia got Tuesday against the Minnesota Twins was more pin-cushion moments. The Angels managed a handful of highlights, but the Twins scored twice in the 11th inning for a 6-5 victory in front of 14,975 at Edison Field.

Minnesota’s Cristian Guzman got an infield single off reliever Al Levine in the 11th, stole second base and reached third on a throwing error by Jorge Fabregas. He scored on a triple by Denny Hocking, who came home on a wild pitch.

Scott Spiezio’s run-scoring single had tied the score, 4-4, in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.

But for the Angels, it was the wasted opportunities that will be remembered.

The Angels stranded six runners in scoring position with less than two outs. They had the bases loaded with one out in the ninth after Spiezio’s hit. Garret Anderson hit a grounder to Twin first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, who threw to the plate to force Darin Erstad. Tim Salmon then flied out to left.

“We’ve barely scratched the surface with what we can do offensively,” Scioscia said.

Salmon has been the poster boy for those struggles, as he entered the game hitting .205.

“At this point, I’ve stopped thinking, I’ve stopped talking and I’ve stopped asking,” Salmon said. “I’m been paralyzed by being analyzed. I’ve watched more video in the last two months then I have the last eight seasons. I’m just going to hit.”

Salmon had three hits, including an eighth-inning home run, his first since May 6 against Detroit.

“I’ve just been on information overload,” Salmon said.

Struggles the Twins understand. Yet they are the envy of every general manager. They have baseball’s lowest payroll at $24 million. They have baseball’s second-best record at 33-16.

Even Scioscia could take a moment before the game to admire the fiscal responsibility.

“It shows you don’t have to have a $100-million payroll to put a successful team out there,” Scioscia said. “Minnesota is doing it the right way, through developing your players, and now they are reaping the benefits.”

There isn’t much difference personnel-wise between the Twins who lead the AL Central and the small-market wannabes that finished last a year ago.

“I think everyone knew we were going to have trouble scoring runs,” Twin Manager Tom Kelly said after recently. “We don’t have what you would call the ’27 Yankees to send up there.”

The Twins didn’t need to hit like the Yankees, either the ’27 or ’01 versions, to score in the sixth.

They scored a run without a hit in the sixth, putting together two walks and a fielder’s choice. A.J. Pierynski and Jacque Jones pulled off a double steal, with Jones scoring from third after Pierynski broke for home and scored easily.

The Twins scored in the eighth on two singles and a passed ball.

In fact, first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz has been their only consistent offensive threat. A .235 hitter in 129 major league games before this season, he came into Tuesday’s game hitting .362.

Mientkiewicz rocketed a double off the fence in the right-field corner to score Hocking from first base for a 1-0 lead in the first. He had another double to right in the fifth, again scoring Hocking to tie the score, 2-2.

What the Twins have that the Angels lack is consistent pitching. Eric Milton, who no-hit the Angels in 1996, gave up two runs in seven innings Tuesday. Angel starter Ramon Ortiz gave up five hits and walked for in five innings.

Benji Gil reached on shortstop Guzman’s throwing error in the third and was sacrificed to second by David Eckstein. Erstad, who is hitting.350 in his last 19 games, lined a single to left to tie the score, 1-1.