Milton Has Angels Stumped Again

You could say Minnesota Twin left-hander Eric Milton has had a charmed career against the Angels.

Milton has never lost to Anaheim, has thrown a no-hitter against the Angels and Sunday, nearly two years to the day after his no-no, Milton walked three of the first five Angel batters yet emerged unscathed.

Minnesota’s 3-0 victory over the Angels in front of 18,157 at Edison Field plunged the Angels deeper into merely playing out the string and improved Milton’s lifetime mark against them to 4-0 with a 1.37 earned-run average in six outings.

“There’s nothing particular about the Angels,” said Milton, who no-hit them on Sept. 11, 1999.

“I do like pitching here, though. It’s a nice place to pitch. I just had a good day today.”

Milton (14-5) pitched seven shutout innings Sunday, striking out seven and walking four in 119 pitches, 77 for strikes.

“We’re not going to take anything away from Milton,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He pitched a good ballgame, [but] he didn’t pitch that good a ballgame to breeze the way he did.”

Angel starter Jarrod Washburn (11-8) struggled in his first inning-plus, giving up three runs after facing seven batters.

But the left-hander settled down and retired 18 of the next 19 after giving up a solo home run to Matt LeCroy in the second.

“I wasn’t real sharp for the first inning and they got to me,” said Washburn, who gave up three runs and four hits in seven innings. He struck out five and walked one while throwing 97 pitches, 60 for strikes. “I had a poor first couple of innings and Milton made us pay for it. He out-pitched me.”

The Twins jumped on Washburn in the first.

After walking Luis Rivas to start the game, Washburn induced Cristian Guzman to hit into a fielder’s choice before Doug Mientkiewicz’s flare dropped in right field for a single, putting runners on first and third.

A Washburn wild pitch then bounced away from Angel catcher Bengie Molina, and Mientkiewicz moved to second while Rivas stayed at third.

Brian Buchanan then doubled down the third-base line to score Guzman and Mientkiewicz.

LeCroy then made it 3-0 in the second.

LeCroy, who was recalled from triple-A Edmonton on Sept. 1, hit his first home run of the season on Washburn’s first pitch of the inning. LeCroy’s sixth career homer easily cleared the center-field fence.

“I think he started to get loose,” Scioscia said of Washburn turning it around. “He had a little problem in the pen; he wasn’t feeling real strong. Once he got into the game, he got loose and maintained it and pitched strong. He had to work really hard, though, even though his pitch count was down, to get back in sync and get where he wanted to be.”

Having dropped two of three to the Twins (75-68), and eight of 12 overall to fall out of the American League wild-card race, the Angels (73-70) close out the season with 19 games against AL West opponents, beginning with the runaway Seattle Mariners tonight.

“I think we’re definitely not playing with the same intensity that we were two weeks ago when we were considered [to be] still in this,” Washburn said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do to change that, or how we’re going to change that, but it’s a lot more fun to play when everybody’s coming fired up to play.

“And it’s understandable [because] now we probably don’t have as much of a chance to get into this thing. Time’s running out on us and it’s getting farther away. We’ve got to find something to motivate us.”

Motivation? Well, at least the Angels won’t face Milton again this season.