Armas’ Homer Lowers the Boom on Rangers’ Shellshocked Brown

As the sound of fireworks thundered through Anaheim Stadium Tuesday night, Texas Rangers pitcher Kevin Brown stood in the visitors’ clubhouse, staring straight ahead and ignoring the celebration nearby.

For Brown, this was not a Fourth of July to celebrate.

The rookie pitcher had just given up a game-winning, three-run homer to Tony Armas in the ninth inning of a 5-2 loss to the Angels.

He also pitched one of the best games of his young career in front of 62,390 fans, the largest crowd in the major leagues this season.

A game he will remember as a loss.

Brown appeared to be cruising to his eighth victory against four losses until Armas struck in the ninth. He allowed four hits through eight innings and had not allowed a runner past second base since the third.

“I kept trying to overpower them,” he said. “But they made me pay when I made mistakes.”

Brown’s first mistake came with one out in the third when Jack Howell smacked a two-run homer to right, giving the Angels a 2-0 lead.

“I made bad pitches on a couple of occasions,” Brown said. “That was one of them.”

His other bad pitch came with two baserunners and two outs in the ninth. Wally Joyner had doubled to right field and moved to third on a groundout by Brian Downing.

Brown then intentionally walked Chili Davis, who’s hitting .307 and leading the Angels with 40 runs-batted-in, to face Armas.

The result--Armas sent Brown’s 0-1 pitch over the left-field fence.

“I hung a slider right over the plate,” said Brown, who had only 51 days of major-league experience entering the season. “He had struck out a couple of times (earlier) on sliders. But anyone could have hit that out, and he did.”

Texas Manager Bobby Valentine said Brown “didn’t hang more than one slider or fastball the whole game.”

“He pitched good enough to win,” Valentine said. “We didn’t give him any runs.”

Brown didn’t question Valentine’s strategy to walk Davis and pitch to Armas, who had struck out twice and popped out Tuesday.

“I was up against a guy I had success against all day,” Brown said. “There was no fault in the decision. I just didn’t do my job. Valentine showed confidence in me and left me out there to do it. I didn’t, and that’s my fault.

“I don’t have any excuses. It was just a bad pitch.”

Valentine said walking Davis “was the only thing to do.”

“Sometimes it works,” he said. “And sometimes it doesn’t.”

Right-hander Jeff Russell was throwing in the Texas bullpen in the ninth, but Valentine said he had no intention of pulling Brown.

“He was mowing them down,” Valentine said. “I went out to the mound just to chat with him. He looked as fresh as he did in the third inning.”

Brown threw 18 pitches Sunday in a game against Seattle that was rained out in the second inning. The delay forced Valentine to reshuffle his pitching rotation and move Brown into the Tuesday night slot.

“It’s hard for him to come back after the other day and lose this,” Valentine said.

But Brown will recover, Valentine said.

“Kevin’s a pro,” Valentine said. “He can bounce back. He has done it before.”

Brown wasn’t so sure. He just kept staring straight ahead.