Angels’ Parrish Finally Feels at Home Again : Baseball: He hits two home runs--his first at Anaheim Stadium since July 1--to fuel a 4-2 victory over the Rangers.

From the depths of a lost season, small wonders sometimes arise.

On Monday night, the Angels saw Lance Parrish lift himself from the doldrums of what could be his poorest season to hit two home runs and drive in three runs in the Angels’ 4-2 victory over the Texas Rangers at Anaheim Stadium.

They saw Mark Langston become the Angels’ second 17-game winner, joining Chuck Finley. Jim Abbott is close behind with 16 victories.

And they saw the Rangers’ Brian Downing, their teammate until management gave him up after last season, strike what could be one of the final blows of vengeance in his career, a leadoff home run on the third pitch of the game.

The crowd numbered only 19,594, and was the Angels’ smallest home crowd since Sept. 26, 1981, when they drew 18,886. There might not seem much reason to watch, but there are still reasons to play.

“I struggled for quite a long time, and watched my average dip to where it is right now,” said Parrish, who is hitting .221.

“It’s been very frustrating. I’d like to at least go home this winter thinking I can still hit the ball and still be productive.”

Parrish hit two home runs in a game for the 20th time in his career and drove in three runs for the first time since May 15. Parrish, who had 70 RBIs last season, has 46 this season. He had 24 homers last season, 17 now.

Langston (17-7) pitched seven-plus innings, giving up the two runs and five hits before being pulled after walking the first batter he faced in the eighth.

Mark Eichhorn faced one batter, making way for Bryan Harvey for the third consecutive game. Harvey loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, only to strike out pinch-hitter Jack Daugherty and get a force at third on pinch-hitter Jeff Huson’s ground ball. The save was Harvey’s 38th.

Parrish’s first homer of the game was only the second hit by the Angels since Buck Rodgers took over as manager Aug. 26. The Angels had been homerless for 56 consecutive innings (175 at-bats).

For Parrish, it ended a much longer drought. He had not homered since Aug. 15 at Minnesota, and had not homered at Anaheim Stadium since July 1, which was also the date of his last multiple-RBI game at home. The homer produced one other memorable note: Parrish scored the 800th run of his career.

With the score 2-2 in the sixth, Dave Winfield gave the Angels the lead with his 24th homer.

Parrish padded the lead with a seventh-inning homer; he had not had a two-homer game since May 1, 1990, at Baltimore.

Downing, 40, struck the first blow, but the Angels struck the most.

Downing, who needs only eight hits to reach 2,000, said he remains bitter about the Angels’ decision not to re-sign him after last season.

“It still hurts a lot,” Downing said. “It’s not fun (returning to Anaheim).”

He said bitterness will prevent him from even accepting such an honor as a place in the Angel hall of fame.

“Maybe I’ll change my mind,” he said.” But I think I’m pretty stubborn.”