Angels Survive Close Call in the Ninth

A leisurely evening stroll through Tropicana Field turned into a white-knuckle ending for the Angels, who took a five-run lead into the ninth inning Wednesday night, only to see Tampa Bay score three runs and put the tying runs on base before setup man Francisco Rodriguez restored order.

Rodriguez, one of baseball’s most dominant relievers, weathered one of his more vulnerable outings, giving up two runs and two hits and walking two in the ninth. But the right-hander got Carl Crawford to ground to second with two on to close the Angels’ 6-4 victory over the Devil Rays in front of a crowd of 10,731.

“We put it away,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “That’s the bottom line.”

Rodriguez’s recovery preserved the win for Angel ace Bartolo Colon, who rebounded from his first loss in a little more than a month with an 8 2/3 -inning, two-run, three-hit effort to improve to 12-9.

The win enabled the Angels to remain two games behind Oakland in the American League West and 1 1/2 games behind Texas and Boston in the wild-card race.

Colon, who has won seven of his last eight starts, had only one blemish before the ninth, a leadoff double in the seventh by Jose Cruz, who scored on Toby Hall’s groundout to pull Tampa Bay within 6-1.

Though he twisted his right ankle slightly while covering first in the eighth, Colon persuaded Scioscia that he felt strong enough to start the ninth, although his pitch count had reached 110. Colon led the AL with nine complete games last season, but has yet to go the distance in 2004.

“I begged Mike to let me go out there for the complete game,” he said through an interpreter. “He said go ahead. He trusted me.”

After striking out Aubrey Huff, Colon walked Cruz on seven pitches and needed seven pitches to induce an infield fly from Julio Lugo. Colon’s pitch count at 128, Scioscia came to the mound to pull the pitcher and was booed by Devil Ray fans.

“There might be a need to throw 130 pitches in a game, but I don’t think tonight was the night for it,” Scioscia said. “If he went another hitter, he could of been in a range where he might set himself back for his next start.”

In came Rodriguez, making his first appearance in four days and needing one out. But suddenly robbed of his ability to throw a first-pitch strike, Rodriguez struggled.

He walked Hall and gave up a run-scoring single to Geoff Blum. Jorge Cantu doubled to left-center for two more runs, making it 6-4, and Rodriguez was extra careful with pinch-hitter Tino Martinez, walking him to put runners on first and second.

It marked only the third time in 52 appearances this season that Rodriguez had walked two, but the second free pass was by design. With leadoff batter Crawford, who has six home runs, on deck, Rodriguez didn’t want to take a chance with Martinez, the veteran who has 18 homers this season.

“Of course we were careful with Tino,” catcher Jose Molina said. “Who’s the more dangerous hitter who could tie the game, Tino or Crawford? Crawford is a good hitter, but at that time, you have to take your chances with him.”

Added Rodriguez: “I didn’t want to hang a slider or throw a pitch down the middle so Tino could go deep.”

After Martinez took first, Crawford hit a routine grounder to second baseman Adam Kennedy to end the game.

“I trust Frankie and our bullpen,” said Colon, whose parents flew in from the Dominican Republic to watch him pitch Wednesday night.

The Angels managed only eight hits but made the most of them. Vladimir Guerrero ripped his team-leading 26th home run of the season off Tampa Bay starter Mark Hendrickson in the first, and the Angels added three runs in the third, a rally that began with Kennedy’s one-out walk and David Eckstein’s double off the left-field wall.

Darin Erstad beat out a dribbler to second for one run, Guerrero doubled to right-center for another run -- he has four homers and 13 RBIs in 33 career at-bats in Tropicana Field -- and Garret Anderson hit a sacrifice fly to right to make it 4-0.

Two Devil Ray defensive lapses -- Hall’s error while attempting to throw out Chone Figgins stealing second and Huff’s misplay of Guerrero’s slow roller to first -- helped the Angels score twice in the third for a 6-0 lead.