Gloves Are Off in Angels’ Loss

BALTIMORE —  It all unraveled for Bartolo Colon in one inning Saturday, much as it did in his first two starts, when the Angel ace was tagged with a three-run inning in Seattle on opening day and rocked by a five-run inning against the Yankees last Sunday.

Only this time, Colon did not collapse under a barrage of poorly placed pitches and hard-hit balls. He was victimized by the usually reliable Angel defense, which broke down during a three-run fifth inning that gave Baltimore a 3-2, come-from-behind victory in Camden Yards.

Chone Figgins, who moved from third base to less-familiar second so the Angels could add more right-handed hitters against Oriole left-hander Erik Bedard, failed to glove a fifth-inning liner he should have caught, and catcher Jose Molina failed to squeeze the ball on the play at the plate seconds later, an error that enabled the Orioles to score the tying run.

Throw in an all-around dismal offensive effort -- the Angels went two for 12 with runners in scoring position, they failed to bring Tim Salmon home after his leadoff triple in the second, Figgins failed to get a bunt down in the fifth, costing them a run, and they drew no walks to give them only seven in the last seven games -- and it was too much for Colon to overcome.

“We didn’t execute today -- that’s the bottom line,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “When we get into the flow, we play consistent baseball, and days like these are going to be few and far between. But today was a poor day all-around.”

Most perplexing is the Angels’ American League-leading 12 errors in 11 games. The Angels led the league with a .986 fielding percentage in 2005 and thought they improved defensively this season.

But of the 59 runs the Angels have given up, only 49 are earned, the latest pair of unearned runs coming in the fateful fifth Saturday.

Ramon Hernandez led off with a single and scored on Jeff Conine’s one-out double to pull the Orioles to within 2-1. Colon struck out Nick Markakis for the second out, and Brian Roberts hit a broken-bat, sinking liner toward Figgins at second.

Figgins, caught between the sun and shadows during the late-afternoon game, out-jumped the ball, which caromed off the heel of his glove and into shallow right field, a play that was ruled a hit.

Conine was waved around third, and Figgins’ throw to the plate was a little high and wide but in time, so much so that umpire Brian Gorman initially ruled Conine out after Molina applied the tag. But the ball had squirted out of Molina’s mitt, and Conine was safe.

David Newhan’s bunt single and Melvin Mora’s RBI single made it 3-2, and Bedard, who gave up two runs and eight hits in eight innings, retired the last eight batters he faced before yielding to closer Chris Ray in the ninth.

“There were some crazy things happening out there,” said Figgins, who scrambled to catch Newhan’s second-inning liner and turn it into a double play. “I jumped too high on that double play in the second, and the ball almost hit me in the chest.”

Though the Angels have made several spectacular plays, they’ve also “missed some plays that are very routine, and we have to clean that up,” Scioscia said.

“Errors are part of the game. No one is perfect. But our team is built around guys not making the physical errors we’re making. We’ve had some breakdowns that are uncharacteristic of our club.”

On the bright side, Colon, who entered with a 12.86 ERA, was sharp, giving up eight hits, striking out four and walking one in seven innings.

The 2005 AL Cy Young Award winner, admittedly hesitant to air out his fastball after October’s shoulder injury, unleashed several high-velocity pitches Saturday.

Though the Camden Yards radar gun has been known to be on the high side, a Colon fastball to Mora in the seventh registered 99 mph. Many pitches were in the 95-mph range, and Colon maintained his stuff and command all game.

“Thank God, I felt like I was on top of my game,” Colon said through an interpreter. “I know where I’m at today is more of an indication of where I want to be.”