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Explosive start sends Angels past Rangers

Apr 15, 2008 - 5:19 AM By Jay Miller PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- In just one game, Ervin Santana ended the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim's recent struggles at Rangers Ballpark.

Santana earned his second win of the season and Mike Napoli hammered his fourth home run of the season as the Angels downed the Texas Rangers, 7-4, on Monday.

Santana (2-0) entered the contest 4-4 with a 6.75 ERA in 10 starts against Texas, but had fared even worse in Rangers Ballpark, going 1-4 with a 8.92 ERA in seven lifetime starts here.

But all those struggles came to a halt Monday, thanks to some early offensive support by his batterymate Napoli and the middle of the Angels' order.

"We talked about establishing some depth in the lineup and Napoli's been hitting the ball much harder than his average has been showing," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia of his catcher who is batting .273 this season. "You need depth in the lineup and it's not always going to be the middle guys."

Santana was spotted a 2-0 lead when Casey Kotchman singled home Chone Figgins and Gary Matthews Jr. in the top of the first off Rangers starter Jason Jennings (0-3).

Texas struck back in the bottom of the first on a leadoff double by Ian Kinsler and a sacrifice fly by Michael Young. The Rangers took a 3-2 lead on Hank Blalock's second home run of the season - a two-run shot to right-center.

After the three-run first, Santana settled in to hold the Rangers scoreless until he was relieved by Justin Speier to start the eighth.

"Ervin's stuff definitely got better as the game went on," Scioscia said. "I don't know if he was in sync in the first couple of innings, but once he found it, he was just pounding the strike zone with everything."

The Angels answered quickly with three of their own in the top of the second on Napoli's leadoff home run and an RBI double by Vladimir Guerrero to score Matthews. Garrett Anderson followed with an RBI single to give the Angels a 5-3 advantage.

Despite stranding just six runners on base, the Rangers bemoaned the lack of production in critical situations against Santana.

"We were trying to press to hard in situations where we could have made something happen," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "In the third inning, (Marlon) Byrd swung at a bad first pitch down low when he could've gotten another that he could have lifted."

"Santana threw the ball really well," Rangers catcher Gerald Laird said. "He threw a couple of pitches that I wish I could have had back. I just had a couple of bad swings."

Speier and Scot Shields bridged the gap from Santana to closer Francisco Rodriguez, who tossed a perfect ninth for his fourth save in five chances.

The Angels added to their lead in the fifth inning when Maicer Izturis doubled home Guerrero from second. Byrd misplayed the ball in right field, allowing Kotchman to score from first.

Texas added its final run in the eighth when Blalock singled to right to score Josh Hamilton.

Milton Bradley had three hits for the Rangers, who have dropped three straight.

Scioscia was ejected in the eighth by home plate umpire Joe West for arguing a called third strike against Guerrero.

"Joe's a good umpire, Scioscia said. "I haven't seen him miss one quite like that."