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Thursday, Jul. 20 10:05pm ET
Angels rookie Etherton wins fifth straight | |||||
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GAME LOG
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Seth Etherton, a 23-year-old rookie, has emerged as one of the most consistent pitchers in the Anaheim Angels' rotation. Etherton won his fifth straight start and Scott Spiezio homered Thursday night in a 6-1 victory over the Texas Rangers that included a scary moment in the first inning when Mo Vaughn was beaned in the head by a pitch from Darren Oliver. Vaughn, who was struck flush on the front of the helmet by the left-hander's 88-mph fastball, hit the ground and was woozy for a few anxious moments. "I've been drilled before. I've been hit by Randy Johnson. It's no big deal," Vaughn said. "I played nine innings. I've known Darren for a long time, and I know he didn't do it intentionally." Oliver, activated earlier in the day after spending a month on the disabled list with tendinitis in his pitching shoulder, sprinted toward the plate to make sure Vaughn wasn't badly injured. Catcher Ivan Rodriguez bent over to comfort Vaughn until trainer Rick Smith arrived -- along with a frantic Mike Scioscia. "I think they were both shaken up," Angels' manager Scioscia said. "Obviously, it wasn't intentional. It's part of baseball. But the overriding factor is, when you pitch inside, you have to have command. And that one got away from him a little bit. "That's a sound you recognize anywhere. We knew it didn't hit anything but his helmet," Scioscia added. "Thank God that it got him where he was protected. You don't like to see anyone get hit like that." Vaughn, whose 1999 season was interrupted by a sprained ankle and a stapf infection, was intent on staying in the game. Vaughn drew walks each of his next four times up, tying a club record. "Mo said right away, `I'm all right, I'm all right,' " Scioscia said. "I think Rick was a little concerned about him trying to get back up too quickly. It just shows what Mo is made of. Even his next times up, he didn't give an inch and drew some walks. Mo's not going to scare off." Etherton (5-1) gave up a run and six hits in 7 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out two and issued both of his walks in the eighth inning while pitching through the seventh for the first time in eight major league starts. "I made the pitches when I needed to. That's been the key to my success so far this year," Etherton said. Shigetoshi Hasegawa relieved in the eighth and retired Rafael Palmeiro on an inning-ending double play. The Angels added to their lead in the bottom of the inning with two runs on a sacrifice fly by Orlando Palmeiro and a throwing error by third baseman Mike Lamb. Anaheim built a 4-0 lead in the first four innings against Oliver (2-5), who gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings -- including Spiezio's solo shot, his ninth homer. "I kept us in the ballgame, but obviously I could have done better and gotten deeper into the game," Oliver said. "I felt all right, but it wouldn't have mattered what I did because Etherton threw a great ballgame." Darin Erstad, who recorded his 52nd multi-hit game, led off the third with a double and scored Anaheim's second run on a single by Troy Glaus. Erstad leads the majors with 157 hits, nine more than he had last season in 585 at-bats. He also had an RBI single in the fourth. Game notesAngels pitcher Kent Mercker has been giving clubhouse attendant Jimmy Brewer a lot of good-natured ribbing since he learned that Brewer attended Mercker's 1994 no-hitter at Dodger Stadium as an 18-year-old and left in the eighth inning to beat the traffic. ... Angels CF Garret Anderson was scratched from the starting lineup because of a mild strain in his left Achilles. He hurt it running the bases the night before. Anderson pinch-hit in the eighth and struck out. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Texas Clubhouse Anaheim Clubhouse RECAPS Detroit 5 NY Yankees 3
Baltimore 9
Anaheim 6
Florida 6
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