Once Again, Angels Find a Way

The off-season addition of Vladimir Guerrero & Co. may have buffed the Angels’ veneer to a blinding glow, but a check of the underlying framework Wednesday revealed that reserves Jeff DaVanon and Chone Figgins are also capable of propelling the team to victory.

Figgins stole two bases in the ninth inning, and DaVanon drove him in from third with the winning run on a sacrifice fly as the Angels shook off a late bullpen collapse to win their fifth consecutive game over the slumping Seattle Mariners, 6-5, in front of 42,888 at Angel Stadium.

Figgins pinch-ran for Guerrero, who led off the ninth with a walk, and promptly stole second and third. Seattle reliever Mike Myers struck out Garret Anderson, but Jose Guillen was hit on his left wrist by a Julio Mateo pitch to bring up DaVanon for only his second at-bat of the season.

DaVanon flied to medium right-center field, and Ichiro Suzuki’s throw was too late to get Figgins at the plate.

“Figgins made it happen,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He just stole that run, and that was something we needed.”

Said DaVanon: “Figgins made it a lot easier by getting to third base.”

The Mariners had tied the score in the ninth off Angel closer Troy Percival after Dave Hansen led off with a bloop single to center and pinch-runner Willie Bloomquist stole second. Pinch-hitter Dan Wilson drove in Bloomquist with a single to right and went to third on Suzuki’s double off the wall in right-center.

But Percival averted further damage by retiring John Olerud on a popup to shortstop, Edgar Martinez on a foul popup to third and Bret Boone on a fly ball to right.

“I told myself that I’ve got to strand these guys right here,” said Percival, charged with a blown save but credited with the victory, “and fortunately I made the pitches I needed to make.”

Tim Salmon, whose batting average dipped to .050 as recently as Saturday, ripped a two-run homer, a double and a run-scoring single to raise his average to .235, though he popped up to shortstop with the bases loaded in the seventh.

“Something’s clicking that wasn’t the first couple of games,” Salmon said.

Angel starter Ramon Ortiz also experienced a statistical turnaround, lowering his earned-run average from 23.63 to 11.88 with 5 2/3 so-so innings before handing the ball off to the bullpen, which shut down the Mariners until the ninth.

Seattle starter Freddy Garcia, who had pitched seven shutout innings against the Angels in his season debut, delivered an atypical performance, giving up 13 hits and five runs in six-plus innings.

Adam Kennedy and Shane Halter each drove in a run in the second to give the Angels a 2-0 lead after Anderson hit a leadoff single and moved to third on Salmon’s one-out double to left.

Kennedy hit a roller up the first-base line to drive in Anderson with his team-leading 10th run batted in, and Halter followed with a run-scoring double to right-center.

The Mariners, who are off to a franchise-worst 1-7 start and have lost seven consecutive games to the Angels dating to last season, countered with two runs in the fourth after Martinez stroked a leadoff single to left and came home on Boone’s two-run homer to left-center.

Salmon’s two-run blast to left-center in the fourth put the Angels ahead, 4-2, but Seattle closed to within a run in the fifth when Suzuki singled with one out and scored on Olerud’s double to left-center.

Salmon ripped a run-scoring single to left in the fifth, making it 5-3, but again the Mariners came back with a run in the sixth on Hansen’s single to right past diving first baseman Darin Erstad. Shields then entered to preserve the Angels’ 5-4 advantage.

DaVanon, who played in 123 games last year but has been relegated to a reserve role with the addition of Guerrero and Guillen, said he hoped he and Figgins would receive more playing time after their clutch performances.

“I think it gives Scioscia a lot of confidence to go to us in those situations,” he said.