Percival, Angels Sweat for Win Over Cardinals

Troy Percival knows something about heat, so the Angel all-star closer was determined to work quickly on a hot and sticky Thursday at Busch Stadium.

Percival began his customary sprint from the bullpen when summoned to preserve a one-run lead in the ninth inning after the Angels got solid efforts from starter Scott Schoeneweis and three relievers, but stopped after one stride with the temperature in the mid-90s and the humidity stifling.

The right-hander figured he should conserve his energy, and he needed every bit of it to complete a 3-2 interleague victory against the St. Louis Cardinals that ended the Angels’ losing streak at four games.

Percival got Tino Martinez on an infield popup with the potential tying run at third and go-ahead run at first, recording his 16th save and believing he averted an ugly scene in the process.

“Today, the first thing I thought was, ‘It’s miserably hot out here,” Percival said. “If I tied this game up, my players were going to have a mutiny. It was to the point where I thought I’d be better off giving up a two-run home run, ‘cause otherwise my players won’t be able to play [today].”

Schoeneweis (6-5) gave up six hits and one run in 5 2/3 innings, rebounding from a horrible two-inning performance in his last start against the Dodgers. The left-hander gave the rotation a needed boost and helped the Angels salvage a victory in the three-game series before 36,385.

He threw 53 strikes in 81 pitches to cool off the hot Cardinals (40-30), whose winning streak ended at five games, then watched as Percival finished the job with his high-wire act in the ninth.

Percival got himself into the jam, giving up a one-out triple to Edgar Renteria and walking Jim Edmonds, his former Angel teammate, on four pitches after striking out Eli Marrero. But Martinez popped out, and the Angels (40-29) escaped with the victory despite squandering several early opportunities to break the game open against Cardinal left-hander Bud Smith (0-5).

They took a 2-0 lead in the first on Tim Salmon’s run-scoring single and Scott Spiezio’s sacrifice fly, but didn’t make the most of seven hits through the first three innings. Darin Erstad had one of the club’s few timely late-inning hits recently, singling to center in the seventh to drive in leadoff batter David Eckstein and give the Angels a 3-1 lead.

Eckstein led the 11-hit attack, going three for four with two doubles and two runs. The Angels could have done much more at the plate, and the final inning was an adventure, but Manager Mike Scioscia wasn’t complaining after an upbeat moment in an otherwise difficult stretch.

“Perci, like most elite closers in this league, there’s no sure thing, from an offensive end,” he said. “When you get a guy on third with one out, you’ve still got to work for it.

“You get the leadoff hitter on, it doesn’t mean, all of a sudden, you’re going to rally. These guys that are in Perci’s class, and he’s certainly one of the guys at the top of the list, these guys can shut you down under an circumstance.”

Second baseman Adam Kennedy made a nifty play on pinch-hitter Kerry Robinson’s hard grounder for the first out in the ninth, then Renteria tripled over the head of Angel left fielder Garret Anderson and off the base of the wall. Percival went to work against Edmonds, with whom he shares an agent, after Marrero couldn’t catch up with his 98-mph fastballs.

Well, he sort of faced him, pitching around to put runners on the corners.

“You didn’t think those were strikes? I had ‘em just off,” Percival joked. “I can’t believe he took ‘em. I think everybody in the park knew what was going on right there. You cannot let a guy of his caliber beat you in the ninth inning, and It’s nothing against the guy behind him.

“There’s not many people in the game that can play the game like Jimmy Edmonds. When he turns it up a notch, and he wants to go out there and get it done, there’s nobody better. I’m not going to let him win a ballgame right there. I’ve seen it too many times. I played with the guy.”