Almost a Perfectly Bad Day

Four more outs, and the Angels would have been the object of national humiliation. This way, they can suffer among themselves.

They can thank Adam Kennedy. With two out in the eighth inning Wednesday, Kennedy broke up Freddy Garcia’s perfect game with a sharp single. Yet, amid the rubble of a thoroughly deflating 9-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox, Kennedy said he didn’t really care that he had made sure the Angels got a hit, instead of getting no-hit.

“What’s the difference? At this point of the year, it’s not that big of a deal,” Kennedy said.

He’s right, of course. The Angels, hitless or otherwise, are just about out of time. They can’t afford to lose ground, and they did. With 16 games to play, they’re 5 1/2 behind the first-place Oakland Athletics, just as they were eight days ago.

“Everybody can read the scoreboard,” pitcher Joe Saunders said. “We know, every game, we have to win.”

The day dawned with promise. As the Angels dressed for the game, they swiveled toward the clubhouse televisions, watching the A’s face the Minnesota Twins and their pitching phenom, Francisco Liriano.

But then Liriano winced in pain and walked off the field in the third inning. Within 20 minutes of the time the Angels took the field, the A’s won in Minnesota, 1-0, the “F” for final all too brightly lighted on the Angel Stadium scoreboard.

And, in another 20 minutes, the Angels were done. The White Sox tagged Saunders for one run in the second inning, two more in the third and four in the fourth. For the third time in his past six starts, as the rookie sets a career high in innings with every start, Saunders failed to survive the fourth inning.

“Just a terrible day,” he said after the White Sox pounded five pitchers for 15 hits.

That left the home fans rooting for Garcia, and for history. Garcia never is a good match for the Angels. He beat them five times in 2001, as a member of the Seattle Mariners, and he’s 14-3 against the Angels in his career.

On Wednesday, one scout clocked his fastball from 83 to 86 mph. But Garcia can change speeds and throw breaking balls with precision, on and off the plate, a dangerous mix against the Angels’ impatient offense.

“We got a little bit anxious,” Manager Mike Scioscia said, “and too many times, we swung at his pitch. He stayed on top of us for about the whole game. You can’t pitch too much better than he did ...

“Once they got ahead, he expanded the [strike] zone, and we expanded with him.”

Garcia retired the first 20 batters before the Angels even had a three-ball count. With two out in the seventh inning, Vladimir Guerrero swung at a 3-and-1 pitch and grounded out.

And so Garcia reached the eighth inning with a no-hitter, and not for the first time. He pitched seven no-hit innings against the Twins last year, but Jacque Jones led off the eighth with a home run and Garcia lost, 1-0.

This time, with a perfect game intact, Garcia struck out Garret Anderson, and the crowd cheered. Juan Rivera grounded out, and the crowd cheered.

Kennedy worked the count full -- the only Angels player besides Guerrero to have a three-ball count -- and catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. called for a changeup rather than a split-finger, the better to keep the perfect game intact.

“In that situation, you want to make sure you don’t walk him,” Alomar said.

“I think I threw the right pitch,” Garcia said.

Kennedy smoked a line drive into center field, on Garcia’s 100th pitch. Garcia rolled his eyes toward the sky, then smacked his bare hand against his glove in frustration.

“Who doesn’t want to throw a no-hitter?” he said.

He got Kendry Morales to fly out, the third out of the inning, then walked off the field to a standing ovation from the Angels fans. Garcia waved to them. He was done for the day, and Neal Cotts completed the one-hitter.

There would be one more standing ovation, for Tim Salmon. The crowd rose to salute him when he appeared as a pinch-hitter, with two out in the ninth inning, in the last game of the next-to-last homestand of his career.

And, with another day gone and another game lost, Salmon appears 16 games from retirement.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com