Donnelly Says He’s Working It Out

Brendan Donnelly took exception to an observation that his pitches didn’t seem to be moving that well in Texas last week.

“They moved,” the Angels reliever said with his usual acerbic wit. “Right over the fence.”

Donnelly replaced starter John Lackey in the seventh inning of a May 23 game. Two batters in, the right-hander gave up a Gary Matthews triple and a Michael Young home run, turning a 5-4 Angel lead into a 6-5 deficit.

The Angels came back to win, 7-6, but the outing prolonged a three-week slump in which Donnelly gave up seven earned runs in six innings of eight games, his earned-run average jumping from 1.84 to 4.35 and Hector Carrasco assuming more of Donnelly’s late-inning responsibilities.

Donnelly’s problems, it turns out, weren’t only mechanical. He has been pitching with a slight shoulder strain, and last week he had a cortisone shot in his sore left hip.

“No excuses,” Donnelly said. “We all go out there broken half the time. I just have to be consistent with my delivery. Not that my delivery is very sound, but it feels good right now, and that’s all that matters.”

Donnelly has a violent motion, with a lot of moving parts, and when he gets out of whack, his split-fingered fastballs flatten out and his breaking pitches lose their bite.

But Donnelly bounced back Sunday against the Orioles, retiring all four batters he faced, two by strikeout, and he threw a scoreless eighth Tuesday night, getting cleanup batter Torii Hunter to pop to second and striking out Michael Cuddyer with two on to end the inning.

Donnelly is confident he’s on the mend.

“[Manager Mike] Scioscia said it was the best I looked in a month -- I didn’t realize I was that bad,” Donnelly said. “Every year I have a mechanical slip, where my upper body flies open. I have to keep reminding myself to stay closed longer. That way my pitches come out looking like they’re supposed to instead of like dead fish.”

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There was no radar-gun reading on Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez’s pick-off throw to nail Rondell White at second base to end the ninth inning Monday night, but Angels second baseman Adam Kennedy called it the hardest throw he has ever taken at the bag.

“Oh my God,” Kennedy said. “It’s a good thing my thumbs are double-jointed because I would have dislocated it catching that ball.”

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Center fielder Darin Erstad, whose recovery from an inflamed lower-ankle joint stalled last week when he received another cortisone injection, ran the bases for the first time in six days Tuesday and will attempt to run them again today. He has not been able to run the bases two days in a row.

“I don’t feel it when I’m hitting or running straight,” Erstad said. “It only hurts when I turn left, and that’s what I need to be able to do.”

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Reliever Esteban Yan, designated for assignment by the Angels, was traded Tuesday to the Cincinnati Reds for minor league pitcher Kyle Edens and cash considerations, the Angels picking up the bulk of Yan’s $1.25-million salary. Edens was 2-1 with a 5.46 ERA in 18 games for Class-A Sarasota, Fla.... The Angels and White Sox were unable to agree on a makeup date for their May 11 rainout, so the players union will make the decision, probably choosing between July 27 and Aug. 7.