Time Is Not on Ortiz’s Side

One minute Ramon Ortiz was taking another step toward a 20-win season, the next he was moving closer to a .500 finish.

That’s the way things went Thursday for the Angel starter who retired 13 of the first 14 batters he faced before his bid for a career-high 16th victory unraveled in the sixth inning of a 6-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins at Edison Field.

“It’s baseball,” said Ortiz, who might have taken a shutout into the seventh after third baseman Scott Spiezio snared a line drive by Shannon Stewart and threw to first, nearly doubling off Cristian Guzman for what would have been the final out of the sixth. “Sometimes you pitching good, you don’t win. Sometimes you not pitching good, you win the game.”

Given that reprieve, though, Minnesota struck for two runs and went ahead, 2-1. Luis Rivas doubled down the left-field line, moving Guzman to third, then Matthew LeCroy drove in both with a single to left that took a last-second hop over Spiezio’s glove.

The Angels, who had supported Ortiz with 5.4 runs a game over his first 27 starts, could muster only one run Thursday, when Garret Anderson collected his 110th run batted in with a single up the middle in the third against starter Kyle Lohse. Spiezio popped out in foul territory, leaving the bases loaded in the fifth, and Anderson flied out, stranding two runners in the seventh.

“That’s kind of the story of our season,” said Jeff DaVanon, who had three hits but was left at second base in the second and at third in the eighth. “If this is our luck this year, I hope all the hits come next year.”

Eric Owens extended his career-high hitting streak to nine games with a single in the fifth but could not appreciate the achievement on a day when the Angels produced only six hits and left 10 runners on base.

Ortiz (15-11) will have to win his five remaining starts to win 20 games, though Manager Mike Scioscia said he wouldn’t rule out giving Ortiz another start on three days’ rest in the season finale if he had 19 victories.

“It’s a great milestone, but it’s not worth risking your career for,” Scioscia said. “We would have to see where he is, how he came out of his last start. It’s not out of the ordinary for a guy to come back on three days’ rest.”

Ortiz, who won his first five starts in June, said he is not focused on the milestone.

“I don’t think about winning 20 games,” he said. “The only thing I think is, every time I go pitch, go hard.”

Ortiz hurt his own cause in the eighth when he couldn’t catch a toss from Adam Riggs while covering first and then hit Stewart with a pitch in the shoulder, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. Rivas worked a full count before smashing a two-run double to left that gave the Twins a 4-1 advantage and chased Ortiz.

“We kind of opened the door for them and things got a little tough for us,” Scioscia said.

Jacque Jones blasted a two-run homer against Francisco Rodriguez later in the inning, ending the reliever’s string of four consecutive scoreless appearances.

Only three of the five runs Ortiz gave up were earned, prompting Scioscia to label the pitcher’s seven-inning effort one of his best this season. Ortiz struck out three and walked one.

“Ramon pitched a terrific game,” Scioscia said. “Outside of a couple of pitches that he didn’t execute, he was on top of the hitters. He was ahead in the count, had a low pitch count and really pitched well with his fastball early in the game.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t give him the run support to come away with the win.”