Angels Keep It Under Control

Another series against an American League West rival ended similarly to the Angels’ previous match against a division foe -- with tempers briefly flaring, beaning accusations and heated exchanges.

Sandwiched around the drama, Garret Anderson and Vladimir Guerrero hit three-run home runs and Joe Saunders slid nicely into his permanent rotation spot for the Angels in a 9-1 victory over the Texas Rangers that allowed them to break even in the four-game series.

The Angels remain three games behind Oakland in the AL West but moved 1 1/2 games ahead of Texas in second place. They now begin a 10-day trip, starting today with a makeup game at Chicago, with stops in Cleveland, New York and Texas.

Maybe by the time the club swings through Ameriquest Field, tension between the teams will have dissipated.

The Rangers’ Adam Eaton, making only his third start after suffering a torn tendon in his pitching hand, fired a fastball behind Juan Rivera’s back on the first pitch after Anderson’s first-inning homer.

Rivera was restrained by umpire Rob Drake, who tossed Eaton from the game and issued warnings to each side.

“It was blatant disregard,” Drake said. “[Eaton] didn’t care if everyone in the ballpark knew he was trying to hit him.”

“I don’t know,” Rivera responded when asked whether he thought the pitch was thrown at him on purpose. “It looked like it to me.”

Eaton screamed at Drake while being held by catcher Gerald Laird. Rangers Manager Buck Showalter argued the ejection with the umpiring crew for several moments.

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia labeled the first inning “crazy.”

“There’s only one guy who knows if that was intentional or not, but that ball was behind Juan and if it was a case where he just lost command then it was at an unfortunate time,” Scioscia said.

That one guy would be Eaton, who said he had no intention of throwing at Rivera, who has hit 13 home runs in his last 29 games, instead wanting to establish the inside of the plate early in the count.

“He’s obviously been comfortable for more than a month,” Eaton said. “I just wanted to get it up and in and if I hit him, I hit him.”

On Wednesday, Oakland outfielder Jay Payton was incensed after taking a Scot Shields pitch off his hand. Players gingerly stepped out of the dugout, but cooler heads prevailed.

While the Payton incident occurred late in Wednesday’s game, the Angels still had plenty of time to get revenge with their bats against the Rangers on Sunday.

They followed the first with a five-run barrage in the second, punctuated by Guerrero’s 23rd homer.

He crushed a Josh Rupe offering and Texas left fielder Carlos Lee took only one step back before watching the ball fly deep into the visitor’s bullpen.

By then the rout was on and for the second game in row, the Angels pounded out 13 hits.

The only lingering issue was if the rookie Saunders would pitch effectively after securing a spot in the rotation because of the likely season-ending injury to ace Bartolo Colon.

He responded by shutting down the Rangers for seven innings, mixing his changeup with a deceptive fastball.

Saunders, the club’s 2002 first-round choice, gave up three hits and no runs in seven innings, striking out six.

“I kept the ball down well and got some ground balls and tried to keep it out of the middle of the plate,” said Saunders, who improved to 3-0 with a 1.29 earned-run average. “It’s much easier to get out there in an 8-0 ballgame than a 0-0 ballgame.”

Saunders and fellow rookie Jered Weaver are a combined 10-0 in 12 starts. With the prolonged absence of Colon, the Angels will continue to lean on them down the stretch.

“It was a strong seven innings from Joe,” Scioscia said. “It’s what we are going to need from anybody who takes the ball if we are going to reach our goal.”