Angels Get Win and a Fright, 4-3

Angel closer Troy Percival marked his 28th birthday Saturday night with a nerve-racking ninth inning that seemed to age him a few years and then make him feel young again.

Percival gave up two runs, and the Baltimore Orioles moved to the brink of a potentially stunning comeback, but the right-hander recovered to strike out Jeff Reboulet and make a lunging grab of Geronimo Berroa’s liner to the box with a runner on second, as the Angels held on for a 4-3 victory.

Percival, who fell on his rear end as he made the game-ending catch, punctuated his 19th save--and Chuck Finley’s ninth consecutive victory--by spiking the ball into the mound, and the Angels moved back into first place in the American League West, half a game ahead of the Seattle Mariners.

“I tell you what, I felt pretty good after that catch,” Percival said. “I didn’t think I was that quick. It was going real fast. . . . I’ve never had a birthday quite this wild, but I got the save, and I liked the way things worked out.”

All the tension and pressure of a crisp pitcher’s duel and a tight game between two of the league’s best teams seemed to be released with two snappy swings of the bat in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Darin Erstad nearly took off Baltimore reliever Arthur Rhodes’ head with a tie-breaking RBI single, and Dave Hollins followed with a two-run double to right-center field, giving the Angels a 4-1 lead.

But the Angels, an Anaheim Stadium crowd of 32,207 and Finley had to sweat out the ninth, which started with Percival’s walk to B.J. Surhoff and Harold Baines’ double.

Erstad, the Angel first baseman, reached into the first row of the bleachers to snatch Rafael Palmeiro’s foul pop, but Brady Anderson lined a two-run double to left to pull the Orioles to within 4-3.

Percival gathered himself behind the mound, stormed back to the rubber and struck out Reboulet before snagging Berroa’s liner to make a winner of Finley, who gave up one run on five hits and struck out four in eight innings, moving to within one win of the franchise record for consecutive victories.

Finley (12-6) was backed by several outstanding defensive plays, including Hollins’ diving, back-hand grab of Cal Ripken’s eighth-inning grounder, Erstad’s catch of Palmeiro’s foul pop and second baseman Tony Phillips’ charge and off-balance throw on Jeffrey Hammonds’ eighth-inning chopper.

Phillips also bailed Finley--and Erstad--out of a seventh-inning jam with a perfect throw to third to nail Anderson to end the inning.

Anderson was on second with two outs when Berroa grounded to first. The ball caromed off Erstad’s chest for an error but went right to Phillips, who threw to third and caught Anderson rounding the bag.

“I’ve seen so many great defensive plays this year--that’s what makes this team so exciting to watch,” Percival said. “We’re not going to give you anything. We dive for balls and make great catches. . . . That’s why we’re in a pennant race, because we’re doing everything right.”

Center fielder Orlando Palmeiro began the Angels’ eighth-inning uprising with a single and was rubbed out on Gary DiSarcina’s fielder’s choice, but DiSarcina stole second, which prompted Baltimore Manager Davey Johnson to intentionally walk Phillips.

Erstad, who tripled and scored on Tim Salmon’s sacrifice fly in the fourth, followed with his RBI single to center, and Hollins added a two-run double to give the Angels a 4-3 lead.

Finley gave up one run in a 35-pitch first inning, and his pitch count reached 77 after the third inning. But he settled into a groove in the fourth and needed only 30 pitches to get through the next three innings.

Finley had to be near-perfect because Oriole starter Scott Kamieniecki, who may have pitched for the Angels this season if not for a late-spring injury to starter Rocky Coppinger, virtually matched him zero for zero.

Kamieniecki went seven innings and gave up three hits and one run.