Angels’ Central Heating Shut Off

The Angels lost a game and a series Sunday when, despite evidence to the contrary, the Minnesota Twins showed that there really is some life in the American League Central.

The Twins’ 5-2 victory before 22,854 at Edison Field was their second in three games against the once red-hot Angels, who rebounded from the worst start in franchise history in large part by beating up on AL Central teams last month.

Since losing four consecutive games to division rivals Oakland and Seattle April 20-23, the Angels have gone 22-5, and 16-4 against AL Central teams.

Sunday’s loss prevented the Angels from winning their ninth consecutive series, a feat last achieved by the franchise in 1998. It also dropped them three games behind the first-place Seattle Mariners in the AL West.

“This series wasn’t good, but you can’t expect to keep up that pace forever,” said pitcher Kevin Appier, who suffered his first loss since April 9. “You carry the confidence of having turned it around before. This is a small series, but we have confidence to get back in the groove quickly.”

The Angels, who are off today, have a chance to further fatten up on AL Central teams this week. They begin a six-game trip Tuesday with two games at Kansas City, followed by four games against the Twins at Minneapolis.

The Angels are expecting another tough series against the Twins, who continued to show why they will remain a presence in the playoff hunt despite the threat of contraction.

“They are a solid club, and it comes back to pitching,” Angel outfielder Tim Salmon said. “They peck away, manufacture runs and play great defense.”

For the second time in as many games, the Twins thwarted Angel rallies by throwing out two runners at the plate.

With the score tied, 1-1, in the fourth inning, the Angels had runners at first and third with two out. Jose Nieves broke for second base on a steal attempt, but instead of throwing to the bag, Twin catcher A.J. Pierzynski threw the ball to second baseman Denny Hocking, who fired back to the plate to nail Scott Spiezio.

The Twins led, 3-2, in the seventh when Spiezio reached third again after doubling and advancing on a sacrifice bunt by Nieves. David Eckstein, making his first appearance since injuring his left knee Monday, pinch-hit and hit a ground ball to shortstop Cristian Guzman, who backhanded the ball on the run and threw out Spiezio at the plate.

Pierzynski also threw out Salmon at second base on the back end of an attempted double steal in the eighth.

“We’re going to stay aggressive,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It just didn’t work out today.”

Appier (5-2) gave up three runs and nine hits in 52/3 innings. Only two of the runs were earned, marking the eighth time in 10 starts the veteran right-hander has allowed two earned runs or fewer.

“They are a good contact-hitting team and some balls were falling in and they hit some balls hard,” Appier said. “They played a good game and we definitely can’t say we did. It was an off day for us.”

It usually is when the Angels face Eric Milton (7-3). The left-hander, who threw a no-hitter against the Angels on Sept. 11, 1999, improved his career record against them to 5-0. He gave up two runs and six hits in six innings.

One of the runs came on a sixth-inning home run by Garret Anderson, who ended an 0-for-10 stretch with a shot into the right-field seats that pulled the Angels to within 3-2. It was Anderson’s eighth homer and his third in 17 at-bats against Milton.

But Torii Hunter led off the Twins’ eighth with a double against reliever Lou Pote and scored on Cory Koskie’s single to center.

The Twins scored their final run in the ninth when Jacque Jones led off with a double to left, moved to third on a single by Doug Mientkiewicz and came home on David Ortiz’s fly ball to the center-field fence.

Minnesota closer Eddie Guardado gave up a one-out single to Spiezio in the ninth but got Nieves to pop out and retired Adam Kennedy on a ground ball to first baseman Mientkiewicz to earn his 15th save.