Langston’s Clock Is a Little Fast

ANAHEIM —  The good news for the Angels is pitcher Mark Langston is scheduled to return from his knee surgery Wednesday. The great news is Saturday he made his fourth start.

“I think you can say he’s ahead of schedule,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said.

On May 8, Langston underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and was expected to miss at least six weeks. Considering the number of runs Angel starters were giving up at the time, it was a month-and-a-half gap in the starting rotation that the team could ill-afford to have.

As it turned out, the Angels had to sweat it out for only 23 days.

Saturday, Langston won his second game since returning. He gave up five runs in the third, then got tough in the Angels’ 7-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Anaheim Stadium.

Langston (4-2) didn’t give up a hit after the third and faced the minimum 15 batters, thanks to two double plays. It was not the performance of a guy still hopping around on a bad knee.

“I never liked that number, ‘six weeks,’ ” Langston said. “To be out [on the mound] grinding it out, is what it’s all about.”

Langston ground away Saturday. He breezed through the first two innings, then ran into trouble.

He walked Charlie O’Brien on four pitches to start the inning, then watched--literally--Robert Perez’s bunt stayed fair, hugging the third base line. By the time the inning ended, the Blue Jays had five runs, three coming on a home run by Joe Carter.

“I figured I better start making good pitches or I wasn’t going to be around much longer,” Langston said.

He hung around through the eighth. By then, the Angels had rallied for a 7-5 lead.

Langston struck out five, walked two and hit one batter. Beyond the numbers, he felt better than in any of his previous three starts since returning.

“I felt stronger as the game went on,” said Langston, who threw 88 pitches.

It showed.

“That’s the first game where we weren’t worried about a pitch count with Mark,” Lachemann said.

Langston wasn’t even supposed to be involved with pitch counts at this point. He wasn’t even supposed to be pitching.

He was scratched from a start on May 5 because of an inflamed knee, which flared up while he was running in the outfield. An MRI the next day revealed a slight tear of the medial meniscus.

The timetable was set at six to eight weeks. But Langston’s clock was running a little ahead.

“That didn’t surprise me,” Lachemann said. “He takes care of his body, doesn’t smoke or chew. He’s a well-conditioned athlete. Plus, he’s a competitor. He’s going to try to beat any deadline put out there.”

Langston beat it by three weeks.

He made one rehabilitation start, on May 26 with Lake Elsinore, then was returned to active duty May 31. He went out that night and pitched five innings, giving up one run, in a 10-3 victory over Baltimore.

It’s been a breeze since.

“I thank the Lord for giving me the ability to come back,” Langston said. “Dr. [Lewis] Yocum is the best. And I definitely wanted to get back.”

Which added up to one thing.

“I wasn’t going to miss six weeks,” Langston said.