Rangers Get More Relief Than Angels

When the game boils down to a battle of the bullpens, the Angels usually like their chances -- they’ve led the American League in bullpen earned-run average for three consecutive seasons and have three standout short relievers in closer Francisco Rodriguez and setup men Brendan Donnelly and Scot Shields.

But the Angels met their match Wednesday night in the Texas Rangers, who exhausted their relief corps in a 3-2, 12-inning victory before 35,077 in Angel Stadium, a three-hour, 50-minute marathon that was decided by Alfonso Soriano’s opposite-field home run off new Angel reliever Bret Prinz in the top of the 12th.

Left-hander Brian Shouse, the Rangers’ seventh pitcher, retired the heart of the Angel lineup -- Chone Figgins, Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson -- in order in the bottom of the 12th to gain the win.

Shouse deserves credit for a save too. With two on and two out in the 11th, Shouse relieved R.A. Dickey and retired Darin Erstad on a grounder to first, preserving the tie.

The Angels got two scoreless relief innings from Rodriguez, one from Shields and one from Esteban Yan, but Donnelly gave up a two-run home run to Richard Hidalgo in the eighth inning, as the Rangers erased a 1-0 deficit.

“Nine times out of 10 they’ll close it out and bring home a win,” Angel starter Jarrod Washburn said of the bullpen. “Brendan just made one bad pitch, but I have confidence in every guy down there.”

The Angels blew a chance to win in the 11th when their little-ball approach favored by Manager Mike Scioscia broke down.

Orlando Cabrera and Steve Finley walked against Ryan Bukvich. But Josh Paul’s sacrifice bunt attempt went too much toward the mound and not enough to third, and Dickey had plenty of time to throw to third for the force out. Lou Merloni flied to left, and Erstad, who tied the game with a run-scoring double in the bottom of the ninth, grounded out.

“That’s my job, I’m supposed to get those runners over,” said Paul, the Angels’ third-string catcher who entered as a pinch-runner in the ninth. “I have to make the third baseman field that ball, but I didn’t get it quite enough down the line. I tip my hat to R.A. He won that round.”

The game wouldn’t have gone into extra innings had the Angels not scraped a run across in the ninth against Ranger closer Francisco Cordero, who ranked second in the major leagues with 49 saves last season.

Catcher Bengie Molina, whose two-out, run-scoring single in the seventh inning Tuesday night provided the margin of victory in a 3-2 Angel win, sparked the rally with a one-out single to center.

Texas first baseman Mark Teixeira made a superb stop of pinch-hitter Jeff DaVanon’s one-hop smash, but his only play was to first, as Paul took second. Erstad then sliced a ball about a foot inside the left-field line, the ball bouncing into the stands to score Paul for a 2-2 tie.

Washburn threw six effective, if not efficient, shutout innings, giving up seven hits, striking out five and walking none during a 92-pitch stint, and Shields retired the side in order in the seventh before turning the ball and a 1-0 lead over to Donnelly in the eighth.

But after Michael Young’s single and Teixeira’s fielder’s choice, Hidalgo lofted the first pitch he saw from Donnelly over the short wall in left field for a 2-1 lead.

That took care of Washburn’s chance for the victory.

The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Guerrero and Anderson smoked back-to-back, two-out doubles off starter Kenny Rogers, Guerrero to left and Anderson to right-center.