All’s Well That Ends Well

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Just call Troy Percival the Accidental Closer.

The Angel right-hander didn’t really mean to strike out Fred McGriff to end a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays before 12,234 at Tropicana Field Wednesday night--Percival was actually trying to pitch around the dangerous pinch-hitter.

But one well-placed curveball was followed by an even more precise fastball, and before he knew it, Percival had his 24th save and the Angels had their third victory in a row, one that included six shutout innings by starter Ismael Valdes and four hits by struggling shortstop David Eckstein.

“I wasn’t going to give him anything to hit,” Percival said of McGriff, who is batting .326 with 19 home runs and 60 runs batted in. “He’s the only guy at that point you have to worry about going deep.”

That’s exactly what McGriff did on June 14, 2000, when he lined a 97-mph Percival fastball into the right-field seats in the bottom of the ninth for a two-run homer and a 3-2 Devil Ray victory.

But when McGriff stepped to the plate Wednesday night, Percival, who has not given up an earned run in 15 2/3 innings on the road, did not have flashbacks of that walk-off blast.

“What he’s doing this year is what I was thinking about,” Percival said. “I told myself he’s not getting anything to hit out of the park. I’m just going to stay away from him. You learn your lessons from the past, and with the young team they have, you can’t let a veteran beat you with a home run.”

Percival vs. McGriff II turned in favor of the Angels when a 2-and-1 curveball that Percival was trying to throw low and away hit the outside corner at McGriff’s knees and was called a strike.

Then Percival threw a fastball off the outside corner--because he was concentrating so hard on location instead of velocity, it came in at 93 mph instead of his usual 96-97 mph. McGriff swung through it for strike three.

“McGriff is still one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said, “and Percival did a sensational job pitching to him.”

Valdes did a number on the rest of the Devil Rays, blanking them on two hits and striking out four before being forced out because of a blood blister on the index finger of his pitching hand, a condition that is not expected to impact Valdes’ next start.

Ben Weber replaced Valdes (6-5) to start the seventh and gave up back-to-back doubles to Greg Vaughn and Steve Cox, which cut the Angel lead to 2-1, but Weber retired the next three batters to escape the jam.

Set-up man Al Levine, who pitched in three of the previous four games, walked two in the eighth, so Scioscia summoned Percival with two out, the fourth time this season Percival has been asked to pitch more than an inning.

Percival walked Vaughn on four pitches to load the bases but struck out Cox with a 96-mph fastball to end the inning.

Angel pitchers had little room for error because the offense spent most of the game squandering scoring opportunities, leaving 11 on base and going one for 10 with runners in scoring position.

Their only runs came in the first, when Eckstein and Troy Glaus singled and Darin Erstad hit an RBI fielder’s choice, and in the seventh, when Benji Gil tripled and Bengie Molina hit a sacrifice fly. Eckstein was a bright spot, though.

The leadoff batter had seven hits in his previous 62 at-bats, his average falling from .303 on June 27 to .268, but he lined a single in the first, blooped a single in the third, bunted for a single in the fifth, had a hit-and-run single in the seventh and a sacrifice bunt in the ninth.

Perhaps Tampa Bay brought out the best in Eckstein, who grew up near Orlando, Fla., and was playing in front of more than 30 family members and friends Wednesday night. He has reached base in 14 of 26 plate appearances against the Devil Rays this season.

“I like playing in front of family and friends, but you should be able to do it anywhere,” Eckstein said. “Every time I step on the field, there’s an adrenaline rush. There shouldn’t be any difference. The last three weeks, I’ve been killing the team at the plate. It was nice to do something to help.”