Angels Bend to Zito’s Will in 7-1 Loss to A’s

Tim Salmon has had five seasons to measure Oakland pitcher Barry Zito, and the Angel designated hitter seems no closer to figuring out the Athletics’ left-hander today than he was back on July 22, 2000, when Zito, then 22, allowed one run and two hits in five innings to beat the Angels in his big league debut.

“When he commands and locates that curveball, he’s tough,” Salmon said. “I’ve tried everything against him -- going the other way, pulling the ball, just looking for the curve. But you don’t ever see the same pattern. He’ll mix it up every at-bat.”

Zito baffled the Angels again Sunday night, allowing one run and four hits in six innings to lead Oakland to a 7-1 victory before an Angel Stadium sellout crowd of 43,411, enabling the A’s to win two of three games in an early-season showdown of American League West favorites.

Zito struck out four and walked one, and of the four hits he allowed, two were bloop singles and one was a broken-bat single. About the only hard-hit ball against Zito all night was Troy Glaus’ double into the left-field corner in the third inning.

“He knows what he wants to do with the fastball, he has a terrific changeup, and if he doesn’t have the best curve in the league, it’s one of the best,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “When push came to shove, he made some terrific pitches.”

Zito improved to 10-4 with a 3.76 earned-run average in 16 career starts against the Angels, and much like his major league debut, when he struck out Mo Vaughn, Salmon and Garret Anderson with the bases loaded to end the fifth inning, Zito seemed to do his best work when he was on the ropes Sunday night.

With two on and two out in the first, Zito retired Glaus on a check-swing tapper to first. With a runner on third and two out in the second, Zito got Shane Halter to ground to shortstop. With runners on second and third and two out in the third, the inning the Angels scored on Anderson’s RBI single, Zito got Jose Guillen to fly to left.

And with a runner on third and one out in the fifth, Zito busted the dangerous Vladimir Guerrero in on the hands, inducing a pop-up to second, and struck out Anderson with a nasty full-count curve.

Zito held Guerrero hitless in three at-bats. Salmon was also hitless in three at-bats and has a .135 career average (5 for 37) against Zito. In three games against Oakland’s top three starters -- Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Zito -- the Angels scored seven runs and had 18 hits.

“Good pitchers can put you in a funk, no doubt about it,” Salmon said. “I felt like I was swinging the bat well going into this series, and we ran into a couple of buzz saws. Good pitching can sap your momentum, especially when you’re facing them on back-to-back-to-back nights.”

Angel starter Kelvim Escobar matched Zito for four innings Sunday, allowing Scott Hatteberg’s RBI single in the first but striking out six in the first three innings.

But the A’s scored once in the fifth on Mark Kotsay’s sacrifice fly, and a two-run home run by shortstop Bobby Crosby chased Escobar in the sixth.

Three runs off reliever Ben Weber in the seventh provided insurance for the A’s and prolonged the Angel reliever’s struggles. Weber was supposed to be one of the team’s primary setup men in place of the injured Brendan Donnelly but has been roughed up for eight runs and 13 hits in seven innings for a 10.29 ERA.

Scioscia said Weber is usually a slow starter, but the power sinker-ball specialist allowed only one earned run in 16 1/3 innings last April. His velocity -- in the 88-mph range -- is a few ticks off his normal 91 mph, his command has been shaky, and he’s been passed by Scot Shields in Scioscia’s bullpen pecking order.

“His velocity is where it usually is this time of year -- he starts at 88 or 89 mph and works his way to 91 or 92,” Scioscia said. “His stuff looks good. Making pitches to put guys away is important, and so is repeating pitches, throwing good sinkers in the zone and changing speeds.”