ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Tampa Bay Devil Rays hate to see Kevin Appier on the mound. The Anaheim Angels' right-hander only wishes every team felt that way.
Appier extended his dominance of the Devil Rays with six strong innings, and Jeff DaVanon scored on the front end of a double steal in the Angels' 6-1 victory Sunday.
"He's always been tough on us," said Aubrey Huff, who was hitless in three at-bats against Appier and is 3-for-14 lifetime against him. "I knew he had a good record against us because every time we've faced him, I remember thinking that if I get a hit off him, it was a lucky day."
Appier (3-2) improved to 7-0 with a 1.82 ERA in seven career starts against Tampa Bay. He allowed four hits, including a sixth-inning home run by Ben Grieve, struck out four and walked two.
"The big thing with him is that he throws so much off-speed stuff for strikes and getting it on both sides of the plate to get ahead of the hitters," Huff said. "He doesn't use his fastball much, and that's the pitch most hitters are going to hit. And he's one of the slowest workers out there, so it's tough to get any kind of timing up there."
For the first time in his eight starts this season, Appier pitched a 1-2-3 first inning - a fact that surprised the 15-year veteran.
"Is it really?" Appier asked, bug-eyed. "That's extremely helpful. Starters have their toughest times with their rhythm in the first inning, but today it went pretty quick. Everything was more lively today and I had much better command. That was probably the biggest thing. I was missing my spots by three or four inches in the last game."
The Angels opened the scoring with a pair of unearned runs in the third, the result of Julio Lugo's fielding error on a sharp grounder by Tim Salmon. It was the first error in eight starts this season for Lugo, filling in at shortstop while three-time Gold Glove winner Rey Ordonez is on the disabled list with a sprained left knee.
Singles by David Eckstein and Troy Glaus put runners at the corners with none out, and Eckstein scored on Lugo's miscue. Glaus made it to third on the play and came home on Garret Anderson's double-play grounder. Umpire Marvin Hudson was so emphatic with his call on the bang-bang play at first, he nearly punched Anderson in the face.
DaVanon led off Anaheim's three-run fifth with a double and advanced on Eckstein's sacrifice bunt. Dewon Brazelton (0-4) intentionally walked Glaus, who broke for second as Salmon struck out. Lugo took Toby Hall's short-hop throw in front of the bag and threw home, but DaVanon's hard slide prevented Hall from blocking the plate with his left foot.
Center fielder Rocco Baldelli then made a diving catch on Anderson's drive to the warning track in right-center, but the ball popped loose as Baldelli hit the ground. Glaus scored on Anderson's triple, and Anderson scored on Brazelton's wild pitch to increase Anaheim's lead to 5-0.
"A lot of balls that are driven like that, you don't think you have a chance at. But you give it all you've got," Baldelli said. "It was actually in my glove for a little while. I thought I still had it when I hit the ground. When I was on first base in the eighth, Scott Spiezio said to me, `It's too bad the rules aren't like football."'
Brazelton, who was checked on the mound by manager Lou Piniella and trainer Ken Crenshaw because of an apparent neck problem following the double steal, was removed after five innings. The rookie right-hander was charged with five runs - three earned - and five hits. He struck out seven and walked two.
Notes: Grieve played in his fourth game after missing about six weeks because of an infection in his left thumb. ... As promised, new Angels owner Arturo Moreno has given fans a 75-cent decrease on beer prices. ... LHP Jim Parque, who still hasn't regained the velocity on his fastball after undergoing shoulder surgery two years ago, has decided to accept his demotion to the Devil Rays' Triple-A Durham club, rather than retire. ... Damion Easley started at 3B for the Devil Rays instead of Jared Sandberg, who was hit on the left wrist by a pitch from Anaheim's John Lackey on Saturday. ... Ordonez, who was eligible to come off the DL on Saturday, is expected to be sidelined at least another three weeks.
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