Angels Make a Mess of It

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. —  The Angels played like a bunch of janitors for much of Wednesday night, and Manager Mike Scioscia couldn’t have been happier. They spent eight innings cleaning up after each other’s messes, and the result was a tidy two-run lead entering the ninth.

There was no one left to pick up after Troy Percival, though, because that’s how it almost always is; the Angel closer is the last one out of the building, the guy who turns out the lights on opponents and locks up Angel victories.

Not Wednesday night. Twelve pitches by the hard-throwing right-hander turned into a dirty dozen, as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays bombed Percival for two homers and three runs in the bottom of the ninth for a stunning 3-2 victory before 13,362 in Tropicana Field.

Jose Guillen led off the ninth with an opposite-field home run to right, only the third homer Percival had given up this season, Greg Vaughn reached on an infield single, and Fred McGriff drilled a 1-2 fastball that was clocked at 97 mph deep into the right-field seats for the game-winner.

It was the fourth blown save for Percival this season, but what really was blown was a superb start by young right-hander Brian Cooper, who gave up only five hits in eight shutout innings, struck out four and walked one.

“Coop pitched his butt off, and I’m upset we lost,” Percival said. “But I can’t be upset with how I pitched. I felt good, I felt strong, I had good location and threw good pitches . . . I’m not going to second-guess that.”

Some first-guessing by Guillen and McGriff might have doomed Percival, who said Guillen began to turn his hips and start his swing before he even released the ball.

Percival thought McGriff would be looking low and away, and he tried to fool him with a pitch up and in. He got the pitch where he wanted it . . . and apparently right where McGriff wanted it.

“He guessed right and got the bat head on it,” Percival said. “If you can hit a 97-mph fastball letter-high and in, you’re doing something right. I got beat tonight by some guys who guessed right and hit the ball where it was pitched.”

Cooper did a brilliant job of mixing his fastball, slider, sinker and changeup and had thrown only 92 pitches through eight innings, but Scioscia never considered letting him go for the shutout. Though Percival saved Tuesday night’s win over the Devil Rays, he did not pitch the previous six days.

“It was an automatic decision,” Scioscia said. “When Percy is fresh and it’s a save situation, he’s going to pitch. That’s his role, and he’s done it pretty well.”

Tampa Bay right-hander Albie Lopez went the distance on a seven-hitter, giving up solo home runs to Scott Spiezio in the sixth inning and Bengie Molina in the seventh, and he retired the Angels quickly in the ninth, as Tim Salmon grounded out, Garret Anderson flied out and Troy Glaus grounded out.

It did not appear Percival had much time to warm up, “but I was ready,” Percival said. “I don’t know how many warm-up pitches I threw, but I felt fine.”

Neither he nor the Angels felt fine 12 pitches later, and along with Cooper’s start, the Angels wasted a feel-good performance that saw several teammates come to each other’s aid.

In the fourth, Glaus made a nice back-hand stab of Greg Vaughn’s grounder behind the third-base bag and threw wildly past first. But Molina, the Angel catcher, backed up the play, fielded a carom in foul territory and gunned down Vaughn at second base.

Bubba Trammell opened the fifth with a fly to deep center that bounced off Anderson’s glove for a double, a play that should have been made. But Cooper picked up Anderson, getting John Flaherty to ground to second, Ozzie Guillen to fly to shallow left and Miguel Cairo to ground to third.

McGriff walked with one out in the seventh, and Cooper appeared to be in trouble when Trammell lined a hit into the left-field corner. This time it was Angel outfielder Darin Erstad to the rescue.

Erstad, who has held numerous players to singles on such hits, collected the ball near the warning track, spun and fired a perfect throw to third to nail McGriff. Flaherty then grounded out to end the inning.