CHICAGO -- Anaheim Angels right-hander Aaron Sele showed the pitching smarts and ability that have allowed him to stick around the majors for 12 years.
Jon Rauch had a short one-game stay in the big leagues with the Chicago White Sox, and he might face a tough task getting back.
"I felt good, I felt strong. I felt like I could've kept pitching," Sele said after leading the Angels over the White Sox 5-1 Saturday.
Sele improved to 4-0, allowing one run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and two walks.
"This is exactly what we saw from Aaron in Seattle in those terrific years," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "If he can maintain his stuff, he is going to give our team a big boost."
Jeff DaVanon had two doubles and a single for the Angels, who scored five in the fourth inning off Rauch (0-1).
The 6-foot-11 Rauch was making his first major-league start since Sept. 27, 2002, and he might not get another with the White Sox. He gave up five runs and 10 hits in just 3 2/3 innings and left the clubhouse before the end of the game, according to team spokesman Scott Reifert.
General manager Ken Williams had gone to the clubhouse after the game to tell Rauch he was going back to Triple-A.
"Kenny said that's not something we condone here. We're a family. We root for each other," Reifert said. "That severely hampered his chances of ever pitching in Chicago again."
But Rauch said it was all a misunderstanding and apologized in a telephone call to the White Sox's flagship radio station on its postgame show and said he will talk with Williams.
"The whole thing was a huge miscommunication," Rauch said. "I want to apologize for any miscommunication.
"I want to apologize to my teammates. I'm not like that," Rauch said. "I just wanted to get out of there and be with my family."
Making his sixth start since beginning the season in the bullpen, Sele gave up three singles and Paul Konerko's 10th homer in the seventh. He got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth when Carlos Lee was caught off second by catcher Bengie Molina and was tagged out in a rundown.
"I threw the pitch and got the strike and I was just about ready to ask for the ball back and he (Molina) came up throwing," Sele said. "That's a big play. Anytime you get somebody to back pick somebody, it's a real nice out."
Just called up from Triple-A Charlotte, Rauch yielded six hits in a five-run fourth inning. He and four other pitchers who've attempted to man the No. 5 spot in the rotation are 0-7.
Vladimir Guerrero and Jose Guillen opened with singles before DaVanon hit an RBI double. Molina added a sacrifice fly, Casey Kotchman an RBI single and Adam Kennedy a run-scoring grounder to first to make it 4-0. David Eckstein's run-scoring single finished Rauch.
Lee's single in the fourth extended his hitting streak to a career-best 16 games before he was caught leaning.
The Angels ran themselves out of scoring chances in each of the first three innings. Chone Figgins was thrown out in the first trying to stretch a single into a double. DaVanon was doubled up when he broke for third and couldn't get back on Molina's pop to second. And when Robb Quinlan tried to score from third on Figgins' shallow fly, he was thrown out easily on a strong peg from Timo Perez.
Notes
- Jose Valentin was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.
- Chicago bench coach Harold Baines ran the team because manager Ozzie Guillen was attending his son's high school graduation in Florida. Baines said he didn't know if he would like to manage full-time some day and will use Saturday's experience as a barometer. He didn't have to make out the lineup because Guillen did that before he left Friday night.
- The Angels announced after the game they had reached a contract agreement with Raul Mondesi. He could play Sunday.
- The annual Dog Day promotion drew 500 pooches, who paraded around the field before the game and then sat in the bleachers. Human attendance was announced at 25,050.
The Associated Press News Service
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