Li’l Abner Hustle Leads Angels : Baseball: His aggressive baserunning impresses Rader and ignites four-run fourth in 8-3 victory over Twins.

MINNEAPOLIS —  Shawn Abner knows what it’s like to feel weary and beaten, and he has only been an Angel since July 30.

He hit his doldrums in San Diego, where he languished for most of two months, waiting to be traded by the Padres after losing his spot in center field by hitting .165.

When he joined the Angels in exchange for Jack Howell, he joined a team that had troubles of its own. Since Abner has been with them, they had won only one game before Tuesday night, when his aggressive baserunning and outfield play helped spark the Angels to an 8-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins before 41,354 in the Metrodome.

“Let’s talk about Shawn Abner,” said Manager Doug Rader, who watched Abner go from first to third on a grounder in the fourth inning on a play that stirred the Angels into a four-run outburst.

“This guy really brings energy and life and enthusiasm. I really hope he continues to play well and develop with the bat, because he’s got what it takes. I know that play really did a lot for us. I don’t know if it was the key play of the game, but it was one I enjoyed.”

Abner scored when he stayed in a rundown between third and home long enough to see catcher Brian Harper throw the ball into left field. He very nearly scored another run in the ninth inning, but was called out sliding into home on a questionable call that brought Rader from the dugout and eventually caused Abner’s ejection a few minutes later.

The victory was only the second in 13 games for the Angels, who are in last place in the American League West, 13 games behind the first-place Twins and four behind sixth-place Texas.

Both victories, oddly, have come against the Minnesota Twins, and both were won by Jim Abbott (11-8), who allowed three runs on six hits over 7 1/3 innings.

Bryan Harvey didn’t allow a hit in 1 2/3 innings in picking his 26th save, a career high.

Willie Banks (1-1), a rookie who defeated the Angels last week in his first major league start, lasted 3 1/3 innings, and was charged with six runs.

Abbott’s past two starts not only are the Angels’ only victories since July 30, the are also the only two games since then in which the Angels have scored more than four runs.

The Angels beat the Twins, 8-1, in Anaheim last Wednesday.

“I thought it was a good game for us,” Abbott said Tuesday’s victory. “Any time we can get over what’s been happening to us lately and win a ballgame is kind of a nice step.”

Abbott said he didn’t feel he had his best stuff, but he persevered.

The Twins offered their compliments.

“We put him in some situations, and he was able to get out of them,” Al Newman said.

Manager Tom Kelly, whose team lost for only the 10th time since the All-Star break, agreed.

“He’s one of the best pitchers in the league right now,” he said. “The bad inning pretty much did us in, and he took over from there.”

In a twist, the Angels, who have been swept in recent series by Detroit, Seattle and Oakland, took a 6-5 lead in the season series with the Twins.

Lance Parrish’s homer with Abner aboard in the second inning gave the Angels a 2-1 edge Tuesday. Then the Angels scored four runs in the fourth and added two more in the ninth. Minnesota’s only lead was 1-0 in the first.

Abbott was outstanding, but it was Abner who was stirring.

“The only way you get to play the next day is to do your job and hustle,” Abner said. “That’s what I do when I’m in there. You can have a bad game hitting, you can have a bad game fielding, but you can play hard all the time.”

Abner, taken by the New York Mets with the No. 1 choice in the 1984 draft, had plenty of bad games in San Diego.

By two months ago, he was through.

“Trade me for a Class-A pitcher, a 50th-round draft choice or a bucket of balls,” he said at the time. “I’m embarrassed to collect a paycheck.”

The Angels might find out they’re happier and happier to be giving him one.

Rader was quick to defend him on the play at home in the ninth, when Abner came home on Dick Schofield’s grounder to shortstop Newman, who pivoted deftly and threw home. Abner’s hip was already on the plate when he was tagged on the shoulder, television replays showed, but he was called out by home plate umpire Durwood Merrill.

Rader protested vociferously. He has found someone he likes.