Angels Strand Around

MILWAUKEE —  The Angels hit three home runs for the first time this season, and their 12 hits were the most in a game since April 23, but the offensive statistic that stands out is zero for eight.

That was their performance with runners in scoring position, and that’s why the Angels lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4, in front of 12,135 in chilly, wind-swept County Stadium.

“Home runs are home runs, but it’s the guys left in scoring position early in the game, when you need a fly ball or grounder to get them in, that come back to hurt you,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “I thought this was the night we were going to break loose.”

Darin Erstad, Tim Salmon and Jim Leyritz each hit solo home runs, Erstad’s coming on Milwaukee starter Cal Eldred’s first pitch of the game, but the Angels couldn’t plate a runner from third with no outs in the first inning, and they had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth and couldn’t score.

They scored two runs in the eighth off reliever Bob Wickman, but the inning died when Gary DiSarcina struck out with two on.

Then came the frustrating ninth, when the Angels put two runners on against Brewer closer Doug Jones, and all three players who homered--Erstad, Leyritz and Salmon--struck out swinging.

“You almost have to approach him like a knuckleball pitcher,” Leyritz said of Jones. “He has a lot of motion, and if you concentrate on that you’re not going to see the ball.”

Jones is perfect in seven save situations and the primary reason Milwaukee, which leads the American League Central, is 7-1 in one-run games.

To understand why the Angels have lost five of six, dropped five games behind Seattle and averaged 3.2 runs a game on this trip, look no farther than the first inning Friday night. After Erstad’s leadoff homer, Jim Edmonds doubled down the right-field line and took third on a passed ball.

A ground ball would have scored the run, but Dave Hollins popped to first and Leyritz flied to medium right field. Edmonds didn’t test the arm of Brewer right fielder Matt Mieske, who leads the league with five assists and threw a one-hop strike to the plate. Salmon then struck out to end the inning.

Trailing, 3-2, in the sixth, Leyritz singled with one out and took third on Salmon’s double off the center-field wall. Eldred threw four consecutive balls outside the strike zone, trying to get Garret Anderson, who had three hits, to swing at a bad pitch. Anderson instead drew a walk.

But Eddie Murray struck out and Luis Alicea flied to right to end the inning.

Angel starter Shigetoshi Hasegawa (1-2) gave up three runs on five hits and struck out six through six innings, Milwaukee scoring on David Nilsson’s run-scoring double and John Jaha’s RBI groundout in the first and Mark Loretta’s RBI single in the fourth.

But the right-hander faded quickly in the seventh, leaving two pitches up in the strike zone to Mieske and Jose Valentin, whose back-to-back doubles gave the Brewers a 4-2 lead.

Rich DeLucia replaced Hasegawa, who had thrown 117 pitches, and almost got the Angels out of the jam by striking out Loretta and retiring Mike Matheny on a groundout. Gerald Williams then singled to center for a 5-2 lead before DeLucia struck out Jeff Cirillo.

Leyritz’s homer off Wickman made it 5-3 in the eighth, and Anderson doubled, took third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch to make it 5- 4. Murray’s walk and Alicea’s infield single put runners on first and second for DiSarcina, the Angels’ No. 9 hitter.

Collins could have gone to pinch-hitter Jack Howell but figured Milwaukee Manager Phil Garner would counter with left-handed reliever Ron Villone. With Wickman struggling and DiSarcina three for nine lifetime against the right-hander, Collins liked a DiSarcina-Wickman matchup better than Howell-Villone.

He got the matchup he wanted but not the result--DiSarcina struck out to end the inning.