Santana’s road show is a hit

MINNEAPOLIS -- A few more road starts like the one he turned in Thursday, and the Angels may be ready to fire up the bus for the Ervin Across America Tour.

Showing the kind of confidence, command and poise he rarely displayed away from Angel Stadium last season, Ervin Santana gave up two runs and four hits in six innings to lead the Angels to a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins in the Metrodome.

Closer Francisco Rodriguez struck out Michael Cuddyer on a full-count slider with two on for his second save, extending the Angels’ win streak to three and preserving Santana’s first road win since last June 9 at St. Louis, a span of 15 starts.

Santana went 6-4 with a 3.27 earned-run average at home last season but pitched so poorly on the road (1-10, 8.38 ERA) he was demoted to triple-A Salt Lake last July.

The right-hander refined his hip turn in the Dominican winter league and grew more comfortable with his delivery this spring, but it wasn’t only Santana’s mechanics that looked different Thursday.

It was the way he carried himself, the way he seemed to trust his stuff and the way he pitched aggressively inside, backing several Twins off the plate.

“His whole demeanor and mound presence were awesome,” catcher Mike Napoli said. “It gave me confidence I could put down any pitch, and he’d hit his spot.”

Santana has always had a 95-mph fastball and a good slider and changeup, but Thursday, he treated them like weapons.

In the third inning, he knocked leadoff batter Carlos Gomez on his back with a high-and-tight fastball, then struck him out with a slider away.

“If you’re not aggressive, the hitter is going to take advantage of you,” said Santana, who struck out three and walked two. “I was trying to start hard and finish hard, no matter what.”

The Angels took a 3-0 lead in the third on Howie Kendrick’s leadoff double, Maicer Izturis’ run-scoring single and Gary Matthews Jr.’s two-run home run, and Santana blanked the Twins on one hit through five.

Trouble found Santana in the sixth, when Gomez led off with a bunt single, took second on third baseman Chone Figgins’ throwing error and scored on Joe Mauer’s double to right.

But instead of suffering a meltdown, as he did so often on the road last season, Santana escaped with only two runs allowed, the second scoring on Justin Morneau’s sacrifice fly.

“From his first pitch to his last, he really turned it loose,” pitching coach Mike Butcher said. “He was aggressive in the zone, he located all his pitches, he had a nice, tight slider. He did a real nice job.”

Was this the kind of game that can boost Santana’s confidence and further distance the 25-year-old from his road struggles of 2007?

“You talk to anybody in here, and they’ll tell you it’s already behind him, it’s been behind him since last season ended,” Butcher said. “Everything starts off new. If he throws the ball like he can, he’ll be fine.”

The Angels scored two insurance runs in the seventh, on solo home runs by Torii Hunter and Napoli, and those proved huge when the Twins scored once off reliever Darren Oliver in the seventh and once on Jason Kubel’s solo homer off reliever Justin Speier in the eighth to pull within 5-4.

Matt Tolbert walked with one out in the bottom of the ninth and took second on a wild pitch. After Rodriguez struck out Gomez, Manager Mike Scioscia chose to intentionally walk the left-handed hitting Mauer -- the potential winning run -- to face Michael Cuddyer.

Rodriguez fell behind, 3 and 1, but threw a slider for a called strike and got Cuddyer to swing through a full-count slider to end the game, allowing the Angels to feel even better about Santana’s performance, because he came away with a win.

“His mechanics were terrific, he stayed with his delivery, and the ball was really jumping out of his hand,” Scioscia said of Santana. “If he can bottle that, he’s going to have a great year.”

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