Colon Finds a Little Relief

Angel pitcher Bartolo Colon and reliever Francisco Rodriguez rode together on the team bus to the SkyDome on Friday, Colon reeling from a confidence-busting, 13-start slump in which he was 2-7 with an 8.19 earned-run average, and Rodriguez still stinging from Thursday’s three-run blown save in Chicago.

“I had a little talk with Bartolo,” said Rodriguez, the precocious 22-year-old. “I said, ‘Give us seven innings, and give me the eighth, because I want to prove what I can do.’ I didn’t feel comfortable with what I did [Thursday]. I didn’t do my job. He laughed and said, ‘OK, I’m going to give you seven.’ ”

Colon kept his word, and in doing so he gave the Angels some hope. In a 5-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays before a crowd of 15,071 Friday night, Colon gave up four runs -- three earned -- and five hits in seven innings, striking out four and walking none for his second win since May 8.

Rodriguez got his wish too and atoned for Thursday’s lapse by retiring the side in order in the eighth. Closer Troy Percival then recorded career save No. 297 with a scoreless ninth, though Alex Rios put a scare into the Angels with a game-ending drive that Garret Anderson caught at the center-field wall with a runner aboard.

The Angels made the least of a 16-hit attack, raking 2003 American League Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay for 12 hits and scoring all of their runs in the first four innings.

But Colon (6-8) rebounded from a three-run second, retiring 17 of 19 batters from the second through seventh innings, and a bullpen that has been shaky for the last two weeks held on as the Angels pulled within 3 1/2 games of Texas in the AL West.

“A lot, a lot,” Colon said through an interpreter, when asked how much he needed this win. “Not only for me but for the team. This has been a good trip, and I want to do my part and contribute, because of the division and the race we’re in.”

Lights-out, Colon wasn’t. A fastball known to hit 98 mph in recent years hovered in the 93-mph range and topped out at 95, and the right-hander did not look overpowering.

But he lowered the dimmer switch on the Blue Jay offense by keeping his breaking balls down in the strike zone, locating his fastball on both corners and -- at the suggestion of third-base coach Ron Roenicke -- mixing in a few more changeups to right-handed hitters.

After Rios’ two-run triple and Colon’s fielding error allowed Toronto to tie the score, 3-3, in the second, Colon made only one more mistake, a hanging breaking ball that Eric Hinske drove for a solo home run in the sixth inning, trimming the Angel lead to 5-4.

“He did some things with the game plan that were helpful,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He got into a good groove. He did a lot of good things tonight, and we have to build from it.”

Rodriguez also rediscovered the command of his slider in the eighth, and Percival, who spent four weeks in June on the disabled list because of an inflamed elbow, looked strong in the ninth, striking out cleanup batter Carlos Delgado with a low-and-inside curveball and recording his first save since June 1.

“I was glad to have a one-run game, so I can show I’m ready to get out there and put my nose to the grindstone,” Percival said. “But I’m more excited for Bart because he really needed that. He had one bad inning, but he sucked it up and gave us seven strong innings. I really wanted to get him a win.”

Colon signed a four-year, $51-million contract last winter to be the Angels’ ace, but he has been anything but, giving up a major league-leading 27 home runs and entering Friday with the worst ERA among AL starters. If the Angels are to have any chance of winning the division, they need Colon to be as effective as he was Friday.

“We definitely need to see that he’s getting back to the Bartolo Colon we’ve seen the last four or five years,” Percival said. “It’s good to know your ace is getting back to normal. He’s really battled through this slump. If he throws like he did tonight, he’s going to roll up a lot of wins.”