Angels Falter in the Pinch

With a single out at their disposal and the game on the line Saturday, the Angels sent a .190 hitter to the plate to face a closer with a 95-mph fastball. Game over.

The Angels almost won despite themselves, but a loss was more fitting on an afternoon in which a team that typically plays hard and plays smart neglected to play smart. The Cincinnati Reds did both and won, 4-3, leaving the Angels’ leader to shake his head and shrug after the game at Edison Field.

“Day games here are always adventurous,” center fielder Darin Erstad said. “Why that is, I don’t know. You see some crazy stuff. It just wasn’t an all-around good game.”

It ended with the Angels using Jorge Fabregas, their backup catcher, as a pinch-hitter with the tying and winning runs on base and two out in the ninth. Fabregas worked the count full against Cincinnati closer Danny Graves, then grounded out.

“If I could call the game, that’s what I would do to a pinch-hitter--95 at the hands. Good luck trying to hit it,” Fabregas said. “But that wasn’t the ballgame.”

True enough. There are games worth learning from and games better off forgotten, and this one falls into the latter category for the Angels.

In the second inning, the Angels ran themselves into a needless out. With two out and Scott Spiezio on second base, Bengie Molina singled, but coach Ron Roenicke waited until Spiezio had passed third base before holding him up. As Molina saw Spiezio turn and head for home, he headed for second, and the Reds threw him out.

In the fifth inning, starter Ramon Ortiz balked home the tying run. In the eighth, Aaron Boone turned a single into a double when Jose Nieves forgot to cover second base, and reliever Ben Weber very nearly threw a strike on an intended pitchout, with Molina moving outside in anticipation and leaping back behind the plate to prevent a wild pitch.

In the seventh inning, they loaded the bases with one out but did not score.

In the ninth, down by two runs, they loaded the bases with one out and scored once.

The inning could hardly have started with greater promise. With the Reds up, 4-2, Garret Anderson greeted Graves with a single, and Brad Fullmer doubled him to third. Orlando Palmeiro lined out, the first out.

For the second consecutive at-bat, Spiezio came up with runners on second and third and one out. Molina, who has grounded into the most double plays among the Angels, was on deck. In the seventh, and again in the ninth, the Reds walked Spiezio to load the bases.

In the seventh, Molina flied out. In the ninth, with the Reds having violated baseball orthodoxy by putting the potential winning run on base, Molina grounded out. But the Reds could not turn a double play, and Anderson scored.

So the Angels trailed, 4-3, with Nieves due up against Graves, a right-hander. Nieves was hitting .292 overall and .200 off right-handers. Fabregas was hitting .190 overall and .189 off right-handers. As the backup catcher on a team with two catchers, Fabregas is seldom used as a pinch-hitter.

But Manager Mike Scioscia used him anyway, in part because Scioscia wanted a left-handed hitter and in part because Fabregas had three hits in his last six at-bats.

“In the last couple games, Jorge has been swinging the bat much better,” Scioscia said. “I thought he could come in and put the ball in play.”

With a crowd of 29,881 waving their beach towels and screaming in anticipation, Fabregas worked the count full, the noise level increasing with each pitch. Then he grounded out to second base.

“I usually don’t pinch-hit, but it doesn’t faze me,” Fabregas said. “I can pinch-hit, but it’s hard to do. When you don’t play every day, it’s even harder.

“But that’s not an excuse. He made good pitches, on the inside corner.”