Angels Stop Streak, Beat Halladay Too

The Angels may have discovered a purpose for the remainder of what increasingly appears to be a lost season: playing the role of spoiler.

A team that appears headed nowhere in the pennant race and had struggled recently to scratch out more than two runs, ended the 15-game winning streak of Toronto pitcher Roy Halladay on Friday during a 5-0 victory over the Blue Jays in front of 42,635 at Edison Field.

Ramon Ortiz combined with reliever Ben Weber on a four-hitter and the Angels thumped Halladay for nine hits, striking for three runs over the first two innings. The early outburst accounted for more runs than the Angels had scored in a game since July 24, when they scored 10 runs against the Texas Rangers.

Ortiz (13-8) delivered seven shutout innings and improved to 8-4 when pitching after an Angel loss despite facing jams in four of his seven innings. He made it out of the seventh after giving up a leadoff single and his season-high fifth walk to put runners on first and second with nobody out.

“Toronto has a lot of very good hitters and you have to pitch like that against them,” Ortiz said. “I throw the ball away and outside and they don’t swing. Five walks, but I’m happy.”

Weber pitched two scoreless innings of relief to secure the victory, which ended a three-game losing streak for Anaheim. The Angels (53-55) are 12 1/2 games behind Seattle in the American League West and 10 games behind Boston in the wild-card standings.

Halladay (15-3), who suffered his first loss in 21 starts since April 15, didn’t walk a batter but might have thrown too many fat pitches.

David Eckstein and Darin Erstad led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles, and Tim Salmon drove in Eckstein when he ripped a double just out of the reach of left fielder Frank Catalonotto. Erstad came home on Scott Spiezio’s grounder to second to make it 2-0.

Adam Kennedy hit a one-out single and stole second in the second inning before scoring on Eckstein’s single to left.

“We hadn’t played with the lead in so long,” said Kennedy, who had two hits. “That was big for us.”

Ortiz, meanwhile, was pitching himself into and out of all sorts of trouble. He allowed the Blue Jays to load the bases in the first on a double, walk and hit batter before striking out Orlando Hudson to end the threat. Ortiz walked two batters in the second and hit another batter in the fourth before uncorking a wild pitch that put runners on second and third. He escaped both jams.

“Ramon did a great job shutting down a power lineup,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He pitched a terrific seven innings for us.”

Salmon made it 4-0 in the sixth when he hit a leadoff double to right-center, moved to third on a groundout and came home on Spiezio’s sharp grounder to third. Spiezio later ended an 0-for-22 slide when he singled up the middle in the ninth.

The five runs ended a drought in which the Angels had scored nine runs over their previous seven games, no more than two in any.

General Manager Bill Stoneman did not address the Angels’ offensive woes this week when he let the nonwaiver trading deadline pass without acquiring another hitter, but Eckstein said he considered the inaction a positive sign.

“It’s something that builds confidence with your club knowing that they’re happy with the guys they have,” Eckstein said. “I know from what we’ve done in the past, Mr. Stoneman has a lot of confidence in the club that we have here.”

Said Kennedy: “We know we can do it. It’s frustrating it’s not happening for us right now, but I don’t think any of us felt like we had to have someone from the outside.”