Ervin Santana, Angels shut down White Sox
The Angels, behind another superb effort by resurgent right-hander Ervin Santana, beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-2, Friday night for their 82nd victory, assuring them of their eighth winning season in nine years.
Whoopee.
That might be cause for celebration in Pittsburgh or Cleveland and a ticker-tape parade in Houston, but the Angels had more in mind when they splurged on free agents Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson last winter and acquired Zack Greinke in July.
They expected to contend for the World Series title, but their uneven play over six months has left them in need of a miracle — in this case, an Oakland or Baltimore collapse — to reach the one-game wild-card playoff.
The Angels took a step in the right direction Friday, moving to within 31/2 games of Oakland for the second wild-card spot with 11 games left. They are 41/2 games behind the wild-card leading Orioles.
If the Athletics go 6-6 over their last 12 games, the Angels would need to go 9-2 to tie them. But if the A’s, who have two more games against New York and seven against American League West-leading Texas, go 4-8, the Angels could tie them by going 7-4.
“You think 31/2 games is a lot to overcome, but it could happen,” said right fielder Torii Hunter, whose clutch two-out, two-run single in the fourth inning gave the Angels a 5-1 lead. “Oakland plays some pretty tough teams. Things have to go our way. Our goal is to win 11 games. We’re going to put up a good fight.”
The Angels were on the ropes one batter in Friday when White Sox leadoff man Alejandro De Aza hooked a homer around the right-field foul pole.
But that was all Chicago got off Santana, who gave up one hit the rest of the way and matched a career high with 11 strikeouts in seven innings, improving to 9-12 on the season and 4-2 with a 2.49 earned-run average in his last seven starts.
Santana had good command of his fastball and a sharp break on his curve. He also threw 13 changeups, almost triple what he normally throws, and got several strikeouts with it.
“The funny thing,” Chicago slugger Paul Konerko said, “is this is probably the best I’ve ever seen him.”
The Angels saw the worst of Santana during an 11-start stretch from June 4-Aug. 10 when he went 3-4 with a 7.06 ERA.
Asked whether he was certain this was the same Santana he saw earlier in the year, Angels catcher Chris Iannetta said, “I don’t have any genetic proof.”
“This is what we all expected,” Iannetta continued. “He battled through the ups and downs. His stuff hasn’t changed; it’s just a matter of throwing strikes, getting ahead and controlling counts.”
In July, there appeared to be no chance the Angels would pick up Santana’s $13-million option for 2013. Now, Santana has given them something to think about.
“He’s found his stuff as the season has gone on,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He got into that rut in the middle of the season and it was tough for him to repeat pitches, get ahead in counts, and the ball wasn’t coming out of his hand as crisp as it is now.”
The Angels tied the score, 1-1, on Kendrys Morales’ second-inning homer and took a 3-1 lead in the third when Iannetta singled, Mike Trout doubled and Albert Pujols hit a bloop two-run single.
Hunter’s big hit in the fourth made it 5-1, and Trout led off the seventh with his 28th homer, making him the fourth major league rookie to score 120 runs since 1964. The others were Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki in 2001, Boston’s Nomar Garciaparra in 1997 and Philadelphia’s Dick Allen in 1964.
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