Angels’ Needs Are Fulfilled With Win

For the true pennant contender, there is no such thing as a must-win game in July. The must-win games come in September, and ideally, October.

For the Angels, a team billed as a contender but not playing like one, Thursday’s game was perilously close to a must-win. On a day when defeat would have meant falling seven games behind in the American League West, the pitcher billed as the ace delivered his finest game in weeks, as Bartolo Colon carried the Angels to an 11-1 victory over the first-place Texas Rangers.

“Urgency, yes,” Colon said through an interpreter. “I really think this was a game we needed to have.”

The Angels got 17 hits, including four from fill-in third baseman Robb Quinlan -- one a line drive that shattered the right elbow of Texas starter Ricardo Rodriguez. The Angels hit no home runs, but neither did the Rangers, something of an upset in that the Rangers lead the majors in hitting them and Colon leads the majors in giving them up.

Colon joked that he might have given up three had the wind been blowing out, but there was nothing funny about an earned-run average that required Thursday’s masterpiece to dip below 6.00. The Angels are paying Colon $51 million to be their ace, to sparkle routinely instead of occasionally.

“He should be the ace,” catcher Jose Molina said. “That’s what he is right now. He’s throwing like the Bartolo we all know, and that they paid for.”

For the first time this season, he has won three consecutive starts, after a stretch in which he won twice in 13 starts. He harnessed his erratic command and velocity Thursday, giving up one hit -- an infield single -- through the first six innings and throwing as hard as 97 mph in the sixth and 96 mph in the seventh.

He gave up one run and three hits over seven innings in this start, one run over six innings in his previous start. He has won after an Angel loss in each of his last three starts, stopping a four-game losing streak Thursday, yet he acknowledged that Jarrod Washburn has been more of an ace this year.

“Washburn is the guy I think has done a nice job of stopping streaks,” Colon said. “It’s nice to be able to do it today.”

The Angels already had a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning when Quinlan slammed a line drive off the right elbow of Rodriguez. The pitcher crumpled to the ground, kicking his legs in agony. He left the game immediately, and X-rays revealed a broken elbow that will end his season.

“It’s never any fun when it comes off the bat like that,” Quinlan said. “You’re just hoping it goes by him.... I hope it heals real quick.”

Said Angel Manager Mike Scioscia: “Thank God it was below his chest and neck.”

The Rangers felt terribly for Rodriguez, who had an emergency appendectomy this year and hip surgery last year.

“I really feel for him,” Ranger Manager Buck Showalter said. “He deserves a lot better.”

The Rangers, already sporting a rotation weak in two spots -- John Wasdin (6.82 ERA) and R.A. Dickey (5.71) -- now must fill the vacancy created by the loss of Rodriguez.

The Angels left town within five games of the Rangers, with three more games against Texas next week in Anaheim.

“This gives us a lot more confidence for when we play them again,” Molina said. “We feel we can win those games, and we play them again at the end. It will be very interesting.”

If Colon’s turnaround marks a revitalization -- and not a three-start tease -- it just might be.