Hunter off to fast start with Angels

TEMPE, Ariz. -- You get one chance to make a first impression, and Torii Hunter didn’t blow his.

The Angels’ new center fielder, who signed a five-year, $90-million contract in November, singled and scored in the second inning and hit a run-scoring double in the third before being pulled from Thursday’s exhibition opener, a 3-3 tie against the Texas Rangers at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

“I had that extra energy in my body going into my first at-bat with the Angels,” said Hunter, who spent the last nine years with the Minnesota Twins. “I was pumped up.”

Playing with emotion is one thing. Being consumed by it, a feeling Hunter experienced at times in 2003 after signing a four-year, $32-million contract with the Twins, is another.

“My first contract, I really tried to live up to it, and I tried too hard,” said Hunter, who had 26 home runs and 102 runs batted in that season but hit a career-low .250. “This time, I won’t do that. The only thing I want to do is show the Angels I can be the best player I can be.”

He wasn’t bad Thursday. Hunter singled to left-center in the second, took second on Howie Kendrick’s single and scored on Casey Kotchman’s single to center.

In the third, Manager Mike Scioscia gave Hunter the green light on a 3-and-0 pitch, and Hunter lined it into the left-field corner for a double to score Gary Matthews Jr., who had singled, for a 2-2 tie.

“My first game, I got the green light,” Hunter said. “How about that?”

With the richest contract in Angels franchise history, seven Gold Glove awards and a seven-year run in which he has averaged 25 homers and 90 RBIs, much will be expected from Hunter. The Angels don’t want Hunter to feel pressured by those expectations.

“There’s always a tendency to think if you hit a ball 400 feet, you have to hit it 410 feet to prove yourself to a new team,” Scioscia said. “But Torii’s been around. He knows his talent, we know his talent, and he brings an important piece to the middle of our lineup. We just want him to play his game.”

Hunter was joined in the lineup by six other projected starters, including Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson. Maicer Izturis, who is competing with Erick Aybar for the shortstop job, got the start Thursday.

The only noticeable absences were Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis, who are expected to share catching duties this season. Mathis has a tight right quadriceps, and Napoli’s legs are sore. Both were held out of Wednesday’s intrasquad game and Thursday’s game for precautionary reasons. They are expected to play this weekend or early next week.

Ervin Santana, trying to rebound from a season in which he went 7-14 with a 5.76 earned-run average and was demoted to triple-A for a month, started and gave up two runs and three hits in two innings.

The right-hander focused heavily on correcting his mechanics, primarily a faulty hip turn, in the Dominican Republic this winter but is trying to simplify things this spring.

“I’m not thinking about it on every pitch,” Santana said. “I have to focus on the target and forget about everything else.”

The Angels received a number of e-mails Thursday from fans who are upset that the new radio home of the team, 830, is broadcasting spring-training games on a tape-delayed basis, with afternoon games airing in the evening.

The games are streamed live on the team’s website, but listeners must pay a subscription fee to access the broadcasts. Tim Mead, Angels vice president of communications, says the team is working on a plan that would enable fans to access the Internet broadcasts for free.

--

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com