Angels’ Streak Reaches Seven

The streak lives, improbable but going strong at seven consecutive come-from-behind victories after the Angels’ 7-5 win over Toronto Saturday night at Anaheim Stadium.

A three-run eighth did the trick this time. The Angels rallied from a 5-2 deficit by chipping away at Blue Jay starter Pat Hentgen and landing a flurry of blows against reliever Tim Crabtree in the pivotal eighth.

“We did this so much last year,” Angel starter Mark Langston said. “It’s great to see it kick in again.”

The Angels have rallied to win 17 of their 34 victories. Following their recent method of operation, they received contributions from all comers.

A season-high 40,352 fans watched Don Slaught deliver a two-run homer in the second inning. Chili Davis and J.T. Snow each had two runs batted in.

Four consecutive singles, a fielder’s choice and an infield single produced three runs off Crabtree (2-2).

“It becomes a 25-man game instead of just a nine-man game when they’re all involved like that,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said.

In the field, right fielder Tim Salmon robbed Alex Gonzalez of a homer in the fifth. Snow made a leaping stab of Jacob Brumfield’s liner in the fifth and rookie Darin Erstad made nice running catch on Mike Huff’s drive to center in the second.

Picking the best of the bunch was a chore.

On the mound, Langston rebounded after giving up five runs in the third, lasting eight innings and improving to 4-2. Closer Troy Percival pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his 18th save and fourth in five games.

“Fortunately, we made a lot of great defensive plays and that kept me around,” said Langston, who made his fourth start since returning from knee surgery May 31.

With their seventh consecutive victory in the bag, the Angels turn their attention to a more daunting task today: getting Jim Abbott out of his season-long rut.

Abbott, 1-9 with a 7.61 earned-run average, faces Paul Quantrill (2-7) in the finale of the four-game series at 1 p.m. today.

Despite Abbott’s poor record and bloated ERA, General Manager Bill Bavasi refused to blame the Angels’ sluggish start on his faltering left-hander. In Bavasi’s mind, Abbott is not the reason the Angels started Saturday’s game in third place in the American League West, 6 1/2 games behind first-place Texas.

“This is so cliche, but when they’ve done well, they’ve all pitched in,” Bavasi said. “When we’ve been bad, they’ve all been down. Our fortunes--good or bad--can’t be pinned on one guy. . . . I just sense this club has a chance of taking off now. I really believe, bit by bit, Jim’s going to have a hand in that. I don’t think we’re looking for him to go from a 1-9 pitcher to a 9-1 pitcher, but he’s got to work from some building blocks.”

Bavasi liked what he saw of Abbott during his last start, when Abbott went five innings and did not receive a decision in the Angels’ 11-9 victory over Kansas City on Tuesday.

Abbott gave up only four hits, but six walks prevented him from winning his first game since defeating Oakland on May 2.

It’s no secret that Abbott’s lack of control has been an important ingredient in his failures. He has 39 walks and 32 strikeouts in 73 1/3 innings.

“You don’t have a real margin for error when you walk people,” Bavasi said.

Bavasi acknowledged it has been difficult to stay patient while watching Abbott struggle. He will stick by Abbott, however.

“My take on him is that he’s going to be very successful because he gets batters to mis-hit the ball instead of trying to strike them all out,” he said. “I could be way off, but I think that’s where he’s headed.”