Salmon Goes Extra Mile for Angels

The Angels have not lost consecutive games in more than a month, and they went to great lengths Saturday night to avoid the feeling against the Minnesota Twins.

After the Angels rallied to tie the score in the ninth inning, Tim Salmon, who entered the game in the seventh inning as a pinch-hitter, deposited Jack Cressend’s first pitch in the 13th over the left-field fence to give them a 4-3 victory before 31,820 at Edison Field.

Salmon said he was thinking about taking a few pitches to give himself and teammates a chance to get a look at Cressend, the Twins’ sixth pitcher.

“Then, right as I got to box, my thought was, ‘I really don’t know what his other pitches are. If he throws a first-pitch fastball I’m swinging.’ And he did.”

Salmon’s seventh homer curled just inside the foul pole and improved the Angels’ record to 22-4 since losing four games in a row against Oakland and Seattle April 20-23. They are 28-18 overall.

Angel starter Jarrod Washburn pitched eight mostly outstanding innings and Ben Weber, Troy Percival, Dennis Cook and Al Levine (2-1) combined for five scoreless innings as the Angels ended the Twins’ three-game winning streak.

Washburn’s performance Saturday continued his impressive turnaround. After three starts this season, Washburn was 0-2 with a 6.00 earned-run average. But in his last seven starts he is 4-0 with three no decisions, lowering his ERA to 3.47.

Last Sunday, he gave up one run and three hits in seven innings in a 6-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox, the only run coming on a sixth-inning home run by Royce Clayton.

Against the Twins, Washburn did not allow a baserunner until he walked Doug Mientkiewicz with two out in the fourth.

He did not give up a hit until Denny Hocking’s two-run double with two out in the fifth.

Washburn had a strikeout in each of the first seven innings and gave up three runs and four hits in his longest outing of the season.

“I wouldn’t say it was the best I’ve thrown--I walked a few guys and my command really wasn’t that good,” Washburn said. “But we won the game. That’s all that matters.”

Washburn was gone by the time the Angels erased a 3-2 deficit in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.

Scott Spiezio drew a one-out walk from Twin closer Eddie Guardado. Speedy Julio Ramirez pinch-ran, and he scored on Bengie Molina’s double to the wall in right-center. Adam Kennedy brought the crowd to its feet when he hit a line drive toward left-center, but shortstop Cristian Guzman leaped to make the catch and threw to second base to double up pinch-runner Alfredo Amezaga.

The Twins had taken a 3-2 lead in the eighth by using all fields.

Hocking, the Twins’ No. 9 hitter, led off with a double to deep center field, moved to third base on Jacque Jones’ fly ball to deep left and scored the go-ahead run on Guzman’s single to shallow right.

Twin starter Matt Kinney gave up two runs and seven hits and struck out five in 62/3 innings, his longest performance of the season.

The Angels took a 2-0 lead on a run-scoring double by Kennedy and a squeeze bunt by Jose Nieves in the second inning, but the Twins tied the score in the fifth with help from Washburn.

He walked Torii Hunter to start the inning and, one out later, walked Dustan Mohr. The runners advanced on a wild pitch before Washburn struck out Tom Prince, setting the stage for the two-run double to left by Hocking.

The Angels threatened in the seventh when Kennedy and Nieves hit consecutive two-out singles to chase Kinney and bring on left-hander J.C. Romero.

Salmon, who is batting .240, pinch-hit for Orlando Palmeiro and ripped a 2-and-1 pitch toward the mound, but Romero kept his glove elevated as he fell to the ground and snagged the ball to end the inning.

When Salmon faced Mike Jackson with one out in the 10th inning, he said he was thinking about hitting a home run, a strategy that made him too aggressive and resulted in a ground out to short.

Salmon’s change in philosophy in the 13th worked wonders.

“Fish is back,” Washburn said.