Power Shortage Proves Untimely

SAN DIEGO —  The Angels did a good job manufacturing runs during their recent hot streak, when they won six of seven games, but the assembly line came to a screeching halt in the first six innings Sunday.

It was not for lack of raw materials. The Angels put runners on first and second with no outs in the second, a runner on third with no outs in the third, and they loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth. But they could not find the necessary manpower to bring any of those runners home.

After Tim Salmon and Mo Vaughn singled to open the second, Padre starter Adam Eaton, one of three players San Diego acquired from Philadelphia last winter in the Andy Ashby trade, caught Troy Glaus looking and got Bengie Molina to hit into a 6-4-3 double play.

After Adam Kennedy’s leadoff triple in the third, Angel pitcher Jarrod Washburn grounded to second with the infield half way, Kennedy holding, Darin Erstad flied to shallow center and Kevin Stocker struck out swinging at a chest-high, 96-mph fastball.

After Vaughn and Salmon walked and Garret Anderson singled to load the bases in the fourth, Glaus, who homered in each of his previous three games, looked at a slow curve for strike three, Molina flied to shallow right and Kennedy flied to center.

Eaton’s final escape act proved to be a major momentum swing for the offensively impaired Padres, who hit .213, scored only 60 runs (an average of 3.8 a game) and averaged 9.1 strikeouts in their previous 16 games.

Bret Boone smacked Washburn’s first pitch of the fourth into the left-field seats for a home run, former Angel Phil Nevin lined a single to left, and Joe Vitiello, who was recalled from triple-A Las Vegas on Saturday night, lined a two-run homer over the wall in right.

San Diego catcher Ben Davis then hit a towering blast that caromed off the second deck in left field, giving the Padres their first three-homer inning in more than a year and a 4-0 lead.

“We didn’t pick those guys up early,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said, “and that changed the complexion of the game.”

*

Angel closer Troy Percival said he felt as good physically Sunday as he has at any time in the past four years, and the 96-mph clocking on his fastball in the ninth inning backed him up.

But Percival still relied heavily on his curveball, even though he had trouble controlling the pitch for much of the inning. After Eric Owens’ game-tying sacrifice fly, Percival hit Ruben Rivera with a wild curve and walked Boone with a 3-and-2 curve to load the bases.

After getting ahead of Nevin 0-and-2, Percival missed with two breaking balls before blowing a 96-mph fastball by Nevin for an inning-ending strikeout.

“With open bases and fastball hitters up, you don’t want to throw a lot of fastballs,” said Percival, who has six blown saves. “I’m not going to second-guess the pitches I threw.”

*

Padre closer Trevor Hoffman suffered his fourth blown save Sunday, but he probably wouldn’t have entered the game if not for Stocker’s superb run-saving, back-hand stop of Davis’ one-hop smash with runners on first and third in the eighth.

Stocker spun and threw to second to start an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play, so with a 4-1 advantage and a save situation instead of a 5-1 lead, San Diego Manager Bruce Bochy went to Hoffman, who gave up four runs. . . . Anderson had four hits Sunday, lifting his average to .256 and extending his hit streak to 10 games. Erstad had three hits, including an RBI double in the seventh, to improve to .385 and raise his major league-leading hit total to 152.

TONIGHT

ANGELS’ BRIAN COOPER

(3-3, 4.14 ERA)

vs.

PADRES’ MATT CLEMENT

(9-7, 4.84 ERA)

Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, 7

TV--Channel 9. Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

* Update--Reliever Lou Pote was optioned to triple-A Edmonton Sunday to make room for Cooper, who has been something of an extremist in his last two starts, throwing a three-hit shutout against Oakland on June 30 but giving up six runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings of a 6-4 loss to Seattle on July 5. Clement will try to become the first Padre pitcher this season to win four consecutive starts. The right-hander has faced the Angels once, limiting them to one run on seven hits in seven innings on July 19, 1999. The Angels dropped to 18-15 in one-run games but still lead the league in one-run wins.