Angel Hitters Are Devilish in Hammering Twins, 10-3

Tim Salmon had to round the bases twice in the first four innings Friday night, but no one held his breath in the Angel dugout, fearing the designated hitter might blow out the damaged ligament in his left foot.

Salmon could afford to be a man of leisure, trotting home from first on Cecil Fielder’s third-inning home run and jogging around the bases on his own fourth-inning homer as the Angels ripped the Minnesota Twins, 10-3, in front of 34,363 at Edison Field.

After two consecutive losses in Detroit and two high-stress, one-run victories over Oakland, the Angels have enjoyed successive breathers: Thursday night’s 12-2 romp over the A’s and Friday night’s run-fest, which included 13 Angel hits, a five-run fourth inning and Darin Erstad’s team-leading 11th homer.

“You could get used to that [kind of hitting] real quick,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “We got guys in scoring position, we moved guys over, we got some clutch hits, made some great plays on defense. . . . This was a very good game for us.”

Also for Angel pitcher Omar Olivares, who had this sinking feeling all night and used it to his advantage.

Olivares, picked to remain in the starting rotation over Jason Dickson this week, pitched a complete-game eight-hitter, striking out only one but using his sinking fastball to induce 17 ground-ball outs.

“His sinker was as good tonight as it has been all year,” Collins said. “You could see balls dropping down and hitters lunging at the last second. . . . That’s his trademark pitch. He didn’t have it in spring training, but a lot of pitchers don’t have it there.”

There was some question this spring whether Olivares would even make the team, let alone be a significant contributor. He went 0-2 with a 10.24 earned-run average in Cactus League play, and opponents hit .425 against him.

But Collins was confident Olivares’ struggles were as much a result of Arizona’s thin air as they were of bad pitches, and he brought Olivares to Anaheim as a long reliever.

Olivares moved to the rotation when Jack McDowell was sidelined because of an elbow injury in late April, and he pitched so well that when McDowell returned Thursday night, Olivares retained his starting spot and Collins sent Jason Dickson to the bullpen.

In five starts, Olivares is 1-1 with a 3.13 ERA. “I had better control of my pitches tonight,” he said. “When I threw the ball, it went close to where I wanted it to go.”

Olivares gave up Paul Molitor’s RBI single in the fifth inning and Marty Cordova’s bases-empty homer in the sixth, but his only rocky inning was the fourth, when he gave up Molitor’s single and three consecutive walks.

But third baseman Dave Hollins and rookie second baseman Justin Baughman combined to turn a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning, and the Angels broke the game open with five runs in the bottom of the fourth, which was highlighted by Salmon’s two-run homer and Baughman’s RBI single.

Hollins also made a nice catch of Matt Lawton’s eighth-inning popup, crashing into the wall in foul territory; and shortstop Gary DiSarcina made a diving stop of Terry Steinbach’s eighth-inning grounder and threw him out.

The Angels scored three runs on sacrifice flies--by Salmon, Erstad and Phil Nevin--and did a much better job advancing runners with outs than they have done in recent weeks.

“They outhit us, they out-pitched us, they did everything better than us,” Twin Manager Tom Kelly said. “The Angels pounded us right from the start. Everything they hit found a hole, or they hit it over the fence.”

Fielder’s homer, his seventh of the season, was a two-run shot that traveled an estimated 430 feet to left-center field. Salmon hit a two-run shot to right-center, his 10th of the season, and Erstad hit a bases-empty shot to right-center in the sixth.

The Angels have 27 hits, including six homers, in their last two games, raising their team batting average to .270 for the first time since the first week of the season.

“We don’t have three or four guys who are absolutely raking the ball every night,” Salmon said. “But we have three or four guys getting big hits, and that’s what it takes to win.”