Suspenseful Day for Angels

There has been speculation all season that the Angels will let Troy Percival walk as a free agent this winter. That they will use his $8-million salary to address another need and hand the closer job to Francisco Rodriguez, the flame-throwing 22-year-old who seems more than ready for the role.

But Percival, as he showed again Monday night, is not ready to pass the torch.

The 35-year-old right-hander worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth inning, retiring David Dellucci and Kevin Mench on infield flies and striking out Brian Jordan to save the Angels’ 5-3 come-from-behind victory over the Texas Rangers in front of 20,333 in Ameriquest Field.

Bartolo Colon gave up three runs -- two earned -- and four hits in eight innings for his sixth win over the Rangers this season, and Chone Figgins keyed the Angel comeback, knocking in the tying run with an eighth-inning triple, scoring the go-ahead run with a beautiful hook slide around catcher Ken Huckaby and poking a two-out, run-scoring single in the ninth for an important insurance run.

The victory enabled the Angels to remain one game behind Oakland in the American League West with six games remaining and knocked the Rangers three games behind the A’s.

“Even though I came up with the win,” said Colon, who improved to 17-12, “there is no doubt that Troy won that game.”

Colon had retired 13 in a row from the fourth through eighth innings, giving Manager Mike Scioscia enough confidence to send the right-hander out for the ninth, but when Hank Blalock and Michael Young opened with singles, Scioscia summoned Percival, the first time since May 1 to 3 that the closer had pitched three days in a row.

Mark Teixeira singled to right to load the bases, but Dellucci skied a popup to first baseman Darin Erstad. Mench jumped ahead of Percival with a 2-and-0 count, at which point the Angel reliever opted to deviate from his normal line of attack.

“Instead of trying to hump up and throw something 100 mph, I changed my arm angle, went more over the top, hoping for a double-play grounder,” said Percival, who has 314 saves. “I got the exact opposite, a popup.”

Next up was Jordan, who went down swinging at a 93-mph fastball, as Percival recorded his 31st save and completed his 14th consecutive scoreless outing, a span covering 13 1/3 innings.

“He’s made a career of getting out of jams like that,” Ranger shortstop Young said.

Since returning from the disabled list June 27, Percival has a 1.50 earned-run average in 30 innings and is 18 for 19 in save opportunities.

Though it is not his intent, he has made a statement to the Angel front office: His arm is sound, he is still one of the game’s elite closers, and though he doesn’t possess the 98-mph fastball of his youth, he more than makes up for it with experience and guile, a point he made clearly in the ninth inning Monday night.

“It doesn’t faze me, having the bases loaded with no outs,” Percival said. “I know one team’s going to win, one’s going to lose. I don’t put any more pressure on myself. I go out knowing there’s a chance I’m going to lose, so I just relax and throw pitches.”

Said Figgins: “He doesn’t have 300 saves for nothing. He’s one of the best, as the numbers show.”

The numbers weren’t looking too good for Figgins, who had nine hits in his previous 45 at-bats before Monday, or in the seventh inning Monday night, as the Angels trailed, 3-1.

But Vladimir Guerrero, who ripped his 34th homer in the second inning, doubled and scored on Adam Riggs’ groundout in the seventh, making it 3-2.

After Jose Molina’s single and Alfredo Amezaga’s sacrifice bunt in the eighth, Figgins blooped a triple just inside the right-field line to score Molina for a 3-3 tie.

Erstad grounded sharply to first, but Teixeira double-clutched before throwing home, giving the speedy Figgins just enough time to elude Huckaby and reach back with his left hand and nick the plate for the run that gave the Angels a 4-3 lead.

“I know I’m not big enough to run him over,” said the 5-foot-8, 165-pound Figgins.

But he was fast enough to run by him.

“The play from the right side of the infield is the toughest tag for the catcher,” said Scioscia, the former Dodger catcher.

“It gives you a little window if you’re quick enough, and needless to say, Figgy is quick enough.... You can see how explosive he is. He’s in scoring position when he’s in the batter’s box.”