It all starts with Willits’ 13-pitch at-bat

BOSTON -- Clop, clop, clop they went, bouncing through the rainy New England night like hooves on cobblestone, familiar sounds of warning in an unfamiliar shape.

Foul balls. Seven of them. From the bat off a sawed-off Angels hitter against the arm of a giant Red Sox pitcher.

Reggie Willits against Eric Gagne. Game little fella against Game Over.

It was the start of the ninth inning Friday, the Angels were three outs from a second loss in seven hours, moments from being swept out of a doubleheader and into a dark corner of doubt.

In stepped Willits. And here came those foul balls.

Off the press box window. Off the upper deck seats. Off the wall down the left field line. Into the dugout. Up through the stands. Fogging goggles. Messing with a mind.

With the count 2-and-2, Willits hit two foul balls. One pitch later, he began a string of five consecutive foul balls.

After 10 pitches, Manager Mike Scioscia saw that figure on the scoreboard.

“I thought it was a misprint,” he said.

After a dozen pitches, on-deck hitter Casey Kotchman was looking for a chair.

“I wasn’t counting pitches, but I know was I standing there a long, long time,” he said.

Finally, on the 13th pitch, Willits flied out.

“But it was not just any out,” said batting coach Mickey Hatcher.

Four batters later, the freshly empowered Angels had scored three runs to steal the lead because of that out.

A half-inning later, a beaten and exhausted Gagne was booed to the banks of the Charles River, and the Angels had stolen a 7-5 victory because of that out.

If the Angels survive these final six weeks to breathe in October, their season’s most important single stroke of the bat will be that out.

“Huge,” said teammate Gary Matthews Jr. late Friday as he stared around a quickly emptied clubhouse, the Angels fleeing the scene before the Red Sox realized what happened. “That out was just huge.”

A day that started with a miserable 8-4 loss had ended in a weary triumph.

The hot August duel between the teams with baseball’s best two records had ended in a draw.

A doubleheader split left the Angels feeling as if they had done the splits, again and again, but they had somehow ended on their feet.

“A relief to me,” said Matthews. “Now I won’t have to think about this the rest of the night.”

He wouldn’t have to think about how ace John Lackey was pounded in the first game, and stoppers Frankie Rodriguez and Scot Shields were pounded in the second game.

He wouldn’t have to think about a day filled with dropped balls by Angels fielders, 18 strikeouts by Angels hitters, and a wild pitch that scored a key run when it bounced past an Angels catcher making his second big league start.

He wouldn’t even have to think about the most heavily accented chants in sports, one that filled the ancient park for parts of nine hours -- “Let’s Go Red Sawwwwwwx.”

Mike Scioscia, who never shakes his head, shook his head.

“That’s about as much of a roller coaster as you can be on,” he said.

The rookie Willits and his buzz haircut were in the front car, hands in the air, mouth agape.

In the first game, he struck out three times, grounded into a double play and tentatively played a fly ball that led to a six-run Red Sox inning.

In the second game, he watched from the bench as the Angels relievers blew a 4-1 lead in the eighth inning to fall behind, 5-4, entering the ninth.

Figuring he might be needed as a pinch-hitter, he began running the creaky wooden runway between the dugout and the concourse.

“I was just hoping I didn’t break my leg,” he said.

Knowing Willits’ best value is in his ability to work long counts, Scioscia used him as a pinch-hitter to start the inning against Gagne, who had lost in consecutive appearances since being traded here recently from Texas.

Already, the former Dodger’s confidence and concentration were weakening. Then, by working the count so long, Willits pounded the last bits of starch out of both of them.

He hit so many foul balls, it sounded as if someone were throwing a rock around the stadium. This may not be 2002, but that was certainly every bit of David Eckstein.

Said Rodriguez: “To have to face one batter that long, it really affects your concentration.”

Said Hatcher: “I really think it took something out of Gagne.”

Said Willits: “I’m just scratching and clawing, because that’s all I can do.”

Kotchman followed Willits by drawing a walk on five pitches. Then Chone Figgins grounded a single into right field. Then Orlando Cabrera poked a single into left field for a run.

Then Vladimir Guerrero banged a ball into left-center field for two more runs, and all angst broke lose.

A water bottle sailed from the Fenway Park stands and landed at Gagne’s feet. Boos from the damp and angry fans showered his head. His Red Sox earned-run average had ballooned to 15.00, and he eventually left the park without comment.

In the Angels’ dugout, Willits saw little of it, as he was being swarmed by a team that understands.

“That’s what Reggie does,” said Scioscia. “He finds a way. He sets the table. That’s him.”

Without a power hitter on the bench, with only one legitimate power hitter in the lineup, the Angels require players like Willits.

For them to have a chance in October against the richer lineups in Detroit and Boston, they will require moments like Friday night’s.

As the mumbling fans filed away, the Red Sox organist played, “You Gotta Have Heart.”

It is uncertain whether these Angels really possess such a thing. But on seven occasions Friday, a kid’s bat created something that sounded like a beat.

--

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.