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  Tuesday, Jul. 18 5:05pm ET
Wild pitch lifts Angels to victory in 11th
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The Angels-Padres series was not a good one for closers.

Troy Glaus tripled with two outs in the 11th and scored on Trevor Hoffman's wild pitch as Anaheim beat San Diego 3-2 Tuesday.

The game needed extra innings because Anaheim closer Troy Percival blew his second save in three days, allowing Ruben Rivera's tying inside-the-park home run when the Padres were down to their last strike.

"I feel for Hoffy," Percival said. "Some funky things happened to both of us today. That's part of the game."

In Sunday's opener, won by the Padres 6-5 in 10 innings, both Percival and Hoffman blew saves. Percival did save Monday night's 3-2 win, but was baffled because he thought he threw a good pitch to Rivera.

"I don't know if it's bad luck or bad karma for me," Percival said. "I need to go out and do some kind of ritualistic dance or burn my uniform, I don't know. I don't ever remember getting beat with that kind of stuff."

Hoffman (2-4) started the 10th and retired five straight batters before Glaus' hit to right. Eric Owens broke back on the ball, then had to come in and the ball took an odd hop, allowing Glaus to take third. He then scored when Hoffman's curveball to Bengie Molina hit the plate and bounced away.

"When you have things going your way, those things don't happen," Hoffman said. "These things only happen when you're going bad. I'm trying to get out of this rut as best I can."

In his last 11 games dating to June 23, Hoffman, San Diego's only All-Star, has blown three saves, lost two games and posted a 7.62 ERA, allowing 11 earned runs and 19 hits in 13 innings.

Percival struck out the first two Padres batters in the ninth and was one strike away from his 23rd save when Rivera, who struck out 22 times in his previous 11 games, lifted an 0-2 pitch to right field. The ball bounced off the padding near the top of the fence and Orlando Palmeiro tried to make a leaping catch, crashing into the fence and falling. Center fielder Garret Anderson didn't back up the play and the ball caromed several feet toward the infield.

"I thought I was going to get to it," Palmeiro said. When he didn't, he at least thought he could make a play. "I looked at the ball and said, `We got this guy."'

Rivera was rounding third as Palmeiro was throwing the ball to shortstop Benji Gil, and Rivera beat Gil's throw home for his 11th homer of the year.

"When I came to third base and I saw (Tim) Flannery waving me in, I wasn't sure I was going to make it," Rivera said.

It was the 13th inside-the-park homer in Padres history, and the first since Tony Gwynn had an inside-the-park grand slam at Dodger Stadium on June 26, 1997.

It was Percival's seventh blown save of the year.

The win went to Al Levine (2-2), who took the loss Sunday when he dropped Owens' bases-loaded bunt with two outs in the 10th.

Major league hits leader Darin Erstad had a solo homer with two outs in the fifth inning to give the Angels a 2-1 lead. It was his 19th, tying his career-high, and came on a 90 mph fastball from rookie Brian Tollberg.

Erstad has 155 hits and is on pace for 267, which would break George Sisler's record of 257 set in 1920. Erstad had six hits in the series as the Angels won two of three, and has gone 24-for-52 (.462) with 11 RBIs in the last 11 games.

The teams traded solo homers for the game's first two runs. San Diego's Al Martin hit a towering shot off Ken Hill with two outs in the third, his 11th, and Anderson hit a leadoff homer in the fourth, also off Tollberg, his 27th.

Tollberg had his fourth straight no-decision following victories in his first two big league starts. He gave up two runs and four hits in seven innings, struck out five and walked one. Hill allowed one run on four hits in six innings and struck out eight for the second straight start.

Game notes
Padres RHPs Brian Boehringer and Carlton Loewer underwent season-ending operations on their pitching shoulders Tuesday morning. Doctors Lewis Yocum of the Anaheim Angels and Jan Fronek of the Padres operated. Doctors cleaned and smoothed Boehringer's labrum, biceps tendon and rotator cuff. Boehringer had surgery on his rotator cuff in August 1999. Doctors repaired a partial tear in Loewer's rotator cuff. ... Angels OF Tim Salmon had an injection to treat his inflamed left shoulder.
 


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