Saturday, April 27, 2002
Angels 4, Blue Jays 0
The Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Kevin Appier made big pitches at critical times to get out of several jams. That was just a taste of the kind of clutch performance Troy Percival had in store for the Toronto Blue Jays. Appier pitched 6 2-3 scoreless innings and Percival escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth as the Anaheim Angels beat Toronto 4-0 Friday night for their first home shutout since Sept. 8, 2000.
Appier (2-1) combined with three relievers, allowing seven hits and striking out five. The right-hander stranded runners in scoring position in five consecutive innings, while retiring the leadoff batter in each of the first seven.
“I executed well on some pretty big pitches,” Appier said. “My command was pretty good and all of my pitches seemed to be working real well, as far as stuff and movement.”
Dennis Cook relieved Appier with two outs in the seventh and gave up Eric Hinske's second double of the game. Raul Mondesi reached on Glaus' fielding error at third base, but Al Levine retired Carlos Delgado on a fly to left to end the threat.
Percival came on with runners on first and second and no outs in the ninth and walked Shannon Stewart. Percival recovered to get Hinske on a lineout and strike out Mondesi on a 2-2 curveball.
“The guy throws 97-98, so I didn't expect he was going to throw me a curveball at 76,” Mondesi said. “He made a good pitch. There's nothing you can do about it.”
Percival, who allowed a game-winning three-run homer last Sunday by Oakland's Greg Myers, closed out this one by getting Delgado — also on a 2-2 curve.
“I throw it in any situation. I don't care if it's 3-2, bases loaded, I'll throw it,” Percival said. “I'd probably throw that pitch as much as I throw my fastball. I'm a two-pitch pitcher. If you don't throw them both, you're going to get in trouble every time, especially against those guys.”
Mondesi has 137 homers the last five seasons. Delgado has at least 38 homers and 100 RBIs in each of the last four seasons. But Percival, the Angels' career saves leader, was up to the challenge.
“We had the right guys up at the plate at the end of the game. But against Percival, it's a big challenge and a big hole to climb out of,” Toronto manager Buck Martinez said. “We're going through a tough time right now. We're not getting any big hits, but we'll keep plugging away.”
The Blue Jays stranded 13 runners.
“We're not swinging the bat real good right now,” Mondesi said. “We're trying too hard. We're trying to hit a home run every at-bat. We've got to do it the way we did the first couple of weeks — try to hit the ball the other way and get a base hit. I hope everything changes soon.”
Coming off a win at Seattle in which they scored five first-inning runs, the Angels did all their scoring against Mike Smith in the first inning of his major league debut.
Garret Anderson, who was 3-for-4, drove in the first run with a single. Troy Glaus drove in two more with an opposite-field double down the right-field line, and DH Brad Fullmer capped the rally with a run-scoring single that ended an 0-for-13 drought.
It was only the third RBI for Fullmer in his first 61 at-bats. He drove in a career-high 104 runs for the Blue Jays two seasons ago.
Smith (0-1) allowed four runs and seven hits in four innings and hit two batters. He was 3-1 with a 1.54 ERA in four starts with Triple-A Syracuse and was promoted Thursday when the Blue Jays put right-hander Chris Carpenter back on the disabled list.
“I didn't detect that he was nervous at all,” Martinez said. “He did himself very proud, the way he held them down after that and gave us a chance to get back in the ballgame. But we never did get anything going.”
Notes: Toronto picked Smith in the fifth round of the 2000 draft. ... Delgado, the Blue Jays' cleanup hitter, led off three times and finished 0-for-5. His next hit will be his 1,000th in the majors. ... Anaheim's David Eckstein already has been hit by pitches six times, after being plunked an AL-leading 21 times last season — the most ever by a rookie. ... Mondesi was 0-for-5, and is 6-for-52 in his last 10 games. ... The Blue Jays placed reliever Bob File on the 15-day DL because of a strained oblique muscle in his right side. His roster spot was filled by RHP Justin Miller, who was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse. ... The Blue Jays' team ERA is a major league-worst 6.48.
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Angels 4, Blue Jays 0
