Colon looks strong in Angels’ win

Owner Arte Moreno thought he’d be back around the All-Star break. Manager Mike Scioscia figured it would be late May or early June.

So, it’s fair to say the Angels were as stunned by Bartolo Colon’s efficiency and dominance in Saturday’s 7-6 victory over the Seattle Mariners as they would be if the right-hander entered -- and won -- a swimsuit contest.

Pitching in the majors for the first time in almost nine months, after a long-but-not-too-long rehabilitation from a rotator-cuff tear, Colon breezed through seven innings in Angel Stadium, giving up one run and seven hits, striking out one and walking none. He threw only 77 pitches, 55 for strikes, and not once did he reach a three-ball count.

The only time Colon may have broken a sweat was after he left the game, when relievers Darren Oliver and Scot Shields combined to give up five runs in the eighth before Francisco Rodriguez struck out two of three in the ninth for his sixth save.

“When reality set in about what Bart was dealing with, and we talked about when he’d be ready ... this was the best of the best-case scenarios, for him being ready as early as he was, with the stamina and stuff he had,” Scioscia said. “He maintained his stuff the whole game.”

Colon did this despite tweaking his left ankle while covering first base in the second inning and taking a hard Jose Lopez liner off his lower back in the seventh. His only blemish came in the seventh, when the Mariners loaded the bases with one out and scored on Ichiro Suzuki’s groundout.

“I always said to myself I’d be back in April,” Colon said through an interpreter. “The goal was not half a season or anything like that. I’m not surprised. This is what I expected.”

Colon showed good command and movement on his fastball, which was clocked in the 91- to 95-mph range, a few ticks off from his early-career heater, but a velocity he can live with.

“I know the days of throwing 99 or 100 mph are probably over, but I’m very pleased where I am,” Colon said. “I’m still gaining strength, but [will I throw like I did] five years ago? That’s not going to happen.”

Colon handed a 7-1 lead to Oliver, who gave up eighth-inning singles to Jose Vidro, Raul Ibanez and Jose Guillen for one run. Shields walked Jamie Burke to load the bases before jumping ahead of Ben Broussard with a 1-and-2 count.

Shields thought he struck out Broussard with a pair of tailing fastballs over the middle and inside corner, just above the belt, but umpire Derryl Cousins seemed to have an aversion to the high strike.

Both were called balls, and Shields grooved a full-count fastball that Broussard blasted for the first pinch-hit grand slam in Mariners history, a shot that trimmed the lead to 7-6 but couldn’t overcome the Angels’ three-run first inning and four-run fifth.

The Angels were held to six runs in the final six games of their last trip, the franchise’s second-lowest output in a six-game span since 1973 and a funk that had fans howling for hitting coach Mickey Hatcher to be fired.

Now what are those fans flooding Internet message boards and radio call-in shows with, demands Hatcher be given a contract extension?

The Angels racked up 14 hits, including two home runs and five doubles, in Friday night’s 8-4 win over the Mariners and another 12 hits Saturday night, with Vladimir Guerrero hitting a two-run homer in the first, and Garret Anderson (RBI double) and Robb Quinlan (two-run single) keying the rally in the fifth.

Every Angels starter had at least one hit, Gary Matthews Jr. stole three bases and the Angels went five for 13 with runners in scoring position.

“A lot of guys heard the radio shows and read the papers, and after the game, some of them hugged me and said you’re going to be all right,” Hatcher said. “It’s gratifying, but I believed in these guys. I knew they weren’t that bad. We just had to weather the storm and keep them pumped.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com