Escobar puts solid shoulder to wheel
June 4, 2004
Gabe Lacques
Press-Telegram
ANAHEIM -- With the manager suspended, the bullpen down a man, the shortstop succumbing to injury and the rest of the rotation reeling, the Angels didn't say it, but they were placing a lot on Kelvim Escobar's shoulders Thursday night.
Escobar, the burly Venezuelan, may be new to this full-time starter business, but he knows when a team needs him. He showed as much Thursday, taking a shutout into the seventh inning and completing eight as the Angels defeated the Cleveland Indians 5-2 in front of 39,353 at Angel Stadium.
Shortstop David Eckstein was the latest Angel to feel the injury bug, straining his right hamstring as he scored on Chone Figgins' RBI single in the third inning. With closer Troy Percival unavailable because of a cortisone shot in his elbow and manager Mike Scioscia serving a one-game suspension, the Angels needed a variety of contributions to defeat the Indians.
There was no shortage of helping hands.
Raul Mondesi contributed his first home run and assist as an Angel and Vladimir Guerrero followed up his nine-RBI night with three more hits and an RBI to push his average to .365 and RBI total to 50. Jose Guillen piled on with a two-run triple in the seventh.
But it was Escobar the Angels needed the most. Percival was down Thursday and may not be available tonight. Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez pitched the night before and Scioscia believes they've been overworked.
So Escobar (4-2), who has been bit by no shortage of bad luck this year, like a split fingernail, poor run support and even a rain delay, put it all together. He struck out six, gave up eight hits and made huge pitches in key situations, inducing a double-play grounder out of his cousin, Alex Escobar, to escape a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the seventh inning with just one run of damage.
"I'm glad I'm getting good results, because when they signed me, they knew my career was coming around," said Escobar, who lowered his ERA to 3.79. "I think I've shown that. I'm throwing the ball consistently. I knew the bullpen was overworked. I knew I had to throw strikes, go as long as I can. We need Shields. We need Frankie. It was good to give them a day off."
They weren't the only ones to get the night off. Scioscia watched the game from upstairs as he served a one-game suspension after pitcher John Lackey was ejected from a May 26 game. Bench coach Joe Maddon filled in.
He didn't flinch from the dugout. He can thank Escobar for the saved energy.
"He has an arsenal as good as anyone in the game," Maddon said of Escobar, who signed a three-year, $18.75 million deal in November. "You tell me a pitcher who has better breaking stuff. He's a calm fellow. He's able to handle adversity. He's bright, he's calm."
Eckstein stretched his hitting streak to 18 games with a third-inning double before straining the hamstring scoring on Figgins' single. As Maddon noted, "He's only got a little hammy anyway, so I'm sure he'll be fine."
Mondesi helped, too. His days of 30 home runs and 30 steals a season have long since passed, but he still has plenty of skills left at 33. On Thursday, he ensured Escobar would keep an early 1-0 lead.
With two outs in the fourth, Travis Hafner dumped a ball into left-center field that fell between Guillen and Mondesi. The outfielders nearly bumped into one another and the ball squirted away, so Victor Martinez, running hard with two outs, challenged Mondesi's arm by trying to score from first.
Practically flat-footed, he fired a strike to catcher Bengie Molina, who rather ungracefully accepted the throw and rolled in the dirt. But the throw arrived so quickly that Molina could right himself and tag Martinez before he slid home.
With the Angels nursing a 2-0 lead in the sixth, Mondesi led off by smacking a long drive off previously unbeaten lefty Cliff Lee (5-1) beyond the fence in left field for his first homer as an Angel.
"He plays hard all the time and it permeates his whole game," Maddon said. "Mondy came to play, obviously."
The tally enabled Escobar to breath easier in the seventh, when a walk and two singles loaded the bases for his cousin, Alex.
But the Angels' Escobar prevailed, getting Alex to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play that plated Cleveland's first run. Escobar got Matt Lawton on a fly to right to end the inning, and he pitched a perfect eighth against the free-swinging Indians, who coaxed just 102 pitches out of him in eight innings.
When things did get hot, he stayed cool. Given the Angels' current state of affairs, he had little choice.
"In that situation, you have to focus," he said, "minimize everything around you. I knew I had to throw strikes, go as long as I can, and it worked out."
|
|
|
|
|