Weather or Not, Angels Win It Late

First came the lightning. Then the Angels provided the thunder.

Consecutive run-scoring singles by Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson in the eighth inning Monday lifted the Angels to a 2-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics before an energetic crowd of 38,402 at Edison Field that had been startled an inning earlier by a brief but intense downpour.

Salmon, who only a day earlier had said all the Angels needed to reverse their sagging fortunes was a break, provided it with his two-out chopper off the glove of reliever Chad Bradford that scored David Eckstein with the first run of the game. Anderson followed by driving in Darin Erstad with a single up the middle.

The second run proved critical in the ninth when Angel closer Troy Percival surrendered a leadoff homer to Erubiel Durazo before retiring the last three batters for his 23rd save.

Jarrod Washburn delivered his best start since late May with seven shutout innings, but the Angels (52-52), who ended a three-game losing streak, still find themselves in a precarious position three days before the trading deadline. They trail the Seattle Mariners by 10 1/2 games in the American League West and are in fifth place in the wild-card standings, 10 games behind Boston.

The Angels acknowledged they might not possess the necessary components to get back into the playoff race Sunday when Manager Mike Scioscia met with General Manager Bill Stoneman to discuss trade possibilities, but Scioscia made it clear Monday that he wouldn’t expect any new players to single-handedly spearhead a turnaround.

“I wouldn’t expect it’s going to be one or two or three guys coming in like the cavalry, riding in on white hats that are going to come in new and all of sudden change the dynamics of this club,” Scioscia said. “I think it would be a combination if there was a new face or two that comes and combine that with some guys on the team that are hopefully becoming more productive.”

While Scioscia has maintained that he doesn’t expect Stoneman to trade any of the team’s core players, defined somewhat vaguely by Scioscia as “the guys who are out there every day,” Stoneman said Monday that he would be willing to deal a star if he felt it would improve the team.

“If somebody came along with a really good offer of a really good major league player for one of our core players and I thought the player being offered was better, I’d listen to that deal,” Stoneman said. “But those aren’t the sorts of discussions that are going on out there right now.”

The Angels appeared to promote their last major league-ready position player Monday when they recalled Robb Quinlan and started him at first base against the Athletics. Infielder Chone Figgins, still at triple-A Salt Lake, failed to provide a spark in limited playing time during his most recent stint with the Angels.

But Stoneman, while declining to provide names, said he felt there were other minor league players capable of helping the Angels if necessary.

The team will need additional assistance if it continues to sputter on offense the way it did during the series with Oakland, when it scored six runs in four games. Quinlan failed to contribute during his major league debut, going hitless in three at-bats and failing to drive in Bengie Molina from third base with one out in the fifth inning.

Eckstein started the winning rally in the eighth with a two-out walk and advanced to third on Erstad’s single to right off reliever Ricardo Rincon before Salmon and Anderson delivered their big hits.

Oakland strung together consecutive singles immediately after the rain started in the seventh to mount its most significant threat against Washburn. But the left-hander struck out Terrence Long to complete his seventh shutout inning before turning things over to the bullpen.

“It feels good to throw the ball the way I know I can,” said Washburn, who gave up four hits and struck out seven while issuing only one walk. “I definitely had a clue tonight.”

Brendan Donnelly picked up the victory by pitching a scoreless eighth in which he stranded pinch-hitter Billy McMillon at third base.