Angels Don’t Get Production Credit

MINNEAPOLIS â€”  The line score will show that the Angels lost Friday night’s game when the Minnesota Twins scored twice in the sixth inning off starter Paul Byrd to erase a one-run deficit and twice in the eighth off reliever Esteban Yan to pad their lead in a 7-4 victory in the Metrodome.

Not so. This game was lost in the top of the fourth and fifth innings, when an Angel offense that pounded Twin starter Carlos Silva for four runs on six hits in the first three innings let the burly right-hander up for air, somehow failing to score after opening each frame with a double and a single.

With runners on first and third and no outs in the fourth, Josh Paul’s soft liner was turned into a double play, and Jeff DaVanon, who smoked a 400-foot out to center in his first at-bat, failed in his bunt attempt, tapping the ball right to the pitcher.

With runners on second and third and no outs in the fifth, 2004 American League most valuable player Vladimir Guerrero lined out to short and, after Garret Anderson was intentionally walked, Steve Finley’s sharp grounder to short was turned into an inning-ending double play.

“I don’t want to say we let [Silva] off the hook, but we had our chances to put him away and we didn’t,� said third baseman Dallas McPherson, whose base-running mistake cost the Angels in the fourth. “We have to learn from it and move on.�

Angel shortcomings weren’t limited to the fourth and fifth. Chone Figgins was thrown out at third in the first inning trying to stretch a run-scoring double into a triple, the first time the speedy second baseman can recall being thrown out at third on a ball that reached the outfield wall.

Manager Mike Scioscia’s decision to intentionally walk Jacque Jones in the sixth and eighth innings backfired when Lew Ford’s run-scoring single tied the game and Michael Cuddyer’s RBI double gave Minnesota the lead in the sixth, and Cuddyer’s two-run double blew the game open in the eighth.

Catcher Josh Paul’s throw on Nick Punto’s fifth-inning stolen-base attempt tailed into center, allowing Punto to take third. Punto scored on Shannon Stewart’s groundout, pulling the Twins to within a run at 4-3.

But the primary sources of frustration came in the fourth and fifth innings, when the Angels failed to build on a 4-1 lead. Orlando Cabrera, who hit a home run in the second, led off the fourth with a double, and McPherson singled to center, Cabrera holding at third.

Paul hit a soft liner off the handle toward the second-base bag, where shortstop Jason Bartlett rushed in for the catch and doubled McPherson off first.

“It wasn’t a tough read; it was just bad base-running,� McPherson said. “It was just a mental mistake. I didn’t think the shortstop would get it, and even if he doesn’t, I’m out at second either way. Common sense should have told me to stay at first.�

Darin Erstad doubled to lead off the fifth and took third on Figgins’ bunt single. Figgins stole second, but Guerrero, who had an RBI single in the third, and Finley, whose April average dipped to .157, failed to deliver.

The momentum of the game shifted toward Silva, whose escape acts are becoming all too familiar to the Angels; Silva threw an 11-hit shutout against them Aug. 3. Friday, Silva pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh, and relievers J.C. Romero (scoreless eighth) and closer Joe Nathan (scoreless ninth for his seventh save) closed out Minnesota’s fourth straight win.

“It was another unusual game,� said Byrd, who gave up five runs -- three earned -- and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings, falling to 1-3. “I’m not going to pout or hang my head, but I’m not going to lie to you: I am frustrated. We hit the ball on the screws all over the yard and didn’t have much to show for it.... But the bottom line is I had a 4-1 lead, and I should be able to carry that lead into the seventh or eighth inning.�

Added Scioscia: “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like that, where we had so many opportunities and didn’t score.�