Donnelly Blames Himself, Not Molina

Reliever Brendan Donnelly spent about 15 minutes before Thursday’s game at catcher Bengie Molina’s locker, discussing the final play of Wednesday night’s 3-2 loss to the Blue Jays, a wild pitch by Donnelly that allowed the winning run to score in the 10th inning.

Molina appeared to be crossed up by Donnelly’s slider in the dirt -- the pitch was supposed to be inside to the left-handed hitting Corey Koskie but bounced outside and took a sharp hop past Molina, allowing Russ Adams to score the winning run.

“People want to put the fault on him, but it’s on me,” Donnelly said. “The pitch was supposed to be about two feet to my left, but it wasn’t. I wanted the pitch to be down for a ground ball, and if I missed, I wanted to miss lower than low.

“The intent of the slider is to move in to a left-handed hitter, but instead of moving in, it went straight down. It would be different if Bengie anticipated the pitch to be where it landed.”

Adding to the degree of difficulty, Manager Mike Scioscia said, was that with the bases loaded, Molina didn’t want to set up inside until the very last moment, so as not to give away pitch location to the runner on second.

“As the pitch was delivered, Bengie is leaning toward the inside, and then he has to go outside,” said Scioscia, the former Dodger catcher. “Part of Donnelly’s strength is the erratic movement of his pitches. That ball was in the dirt, spinning; it’s not an easy pitch to catch. But you can’t set up for a mistake. You have to set up for the execution of the pitch.”

Donnelly said there was “no tension, no problems” between him and Molina, but the Angel catcher, who left the clubhouse without speaking to reporters Wednesday night, declined to speak again Thursday. Molina made about a half-dozen nice stops of John Lackey breaking balls in the dirt Thursday night.

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As if the Angel offense wasn’t struggling enough, having scored three runs in 32 innings before Thursday’s game, the lineup was dealt a severe blow when right fielder Vladimir Guerrero was sidelined because of a right calf injury.

Guerrero, who had three hits Tuesday and a home run Wednesday, was injured when he legged out an infield single in the ninth inning Tuesday and appeared to aggravate the injury on a sixth-inning groundout Wednesday.

“His leg is pretty sore, so we want to get him off this stuff,” Scioscia said, referring to the Rogers Centre artificial turf. “Hopefully, he’ll be back in there [tonight].”

Guerrero pinch-hit in the ninth inning Thursday, was intentionally walked and lifted for a pinch-runner. Left fielder Garret Anderson, who is experiencing tendinitis in his right knee, an injury that has flared up periodically over the last two years, started at designated hitter.

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If Kelvim Escobar, who underwent surgery to shave a bone spur in his elbow on June 29, is ready to pitch in early September but not quite ready to return to the rotation, Scioscia said it’s possible the right-hander could pitch out of the bullpen, much like Curt Schilling is doing for the Boston Red Sox.

Escobar had extensive relief experience during his seven years with the Blue Jays, serving as a closer in 1997 and 2002, but he would prefer to remain in the rotation.

“We’ll see what the team needs at the time,” Scioscia said.

“Kelvim is a big part of the rotation, and we want him back as a starter. But it’s impossible for us to make a determination until we see how much of the season is left and where he is physically.”