ANGELS' LEAD SHRINKS TO 2 : MINNESOTA 5, ANGELS 0.

Byline: Joe Haakenson

On a night when Mark McGwire proved records are meant to be broken, the Angels and Minnesota Twins showed that streaks also have a way of ending.

Angels starting pitcher Steve Sparks entered Tuesday night's game having won six consecutive decisions. His opponent, Twins starter Brad Radke, had lost five in a row and was 1-7 with a 6.85 ERA since the All-Star break.

So what happens? Radke pitches like Pedro Martinez and leads the Twins to a 5-0 victory over the Angels before 20,444 at Edison Field.

The loss, coupled with Texas' ninth-inning comeback win, reduced the Angels' AL West lead to two games with 18 to play.

Sparks (9-3) didn't pitch badly - he gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings - but he didn't get nearly the run support the offense normally gives him. In Sparks' past six wins, the Angels averaged 8.2 runs per game. But against Radke (11-13), it was a different story.

Despite Radke's recent run of trouble, he's always pitched well against the Angels. Including Tuesday's game, Radke is 3-0 with a 1.65 ERA in four starts against the Angels this season. For his career, Radke is 7-1 with a 1.57 ERA against them.

``The way he's pitching now, he can get well in a hurry against us,'' Angels manager Terry Collins said before the game. And he was right.

Radke gave up six hits in seven scoreless innings, striking out seven and walking one. No Angels baserunner even reached third base. Between Tim Salmon's leadoff single in the fourth and Chris Pritchett's one-out single in the seventh, Radke retired 10 Angel hitters in a row.

``He keeps you off balance,'' said center fielder Jim Edmonds, who had three of the Angels' eight hits in the game. ``He doesn't make it a whole lot of fun to make you guess with him. And he has probably one of the best catchers in the game (Terry Steinbach) working with him.''

Edmonds said that it was more than just Radke working against the Angels on Tuesday. The Angels have scored only eight runs in four games since returning from the East Coast road trip.

``We've got to focus on playing every game,'' he said. ``We need to keep our energy level up. Right now, our energy level and effort is the most important thing. Our energy level was down tonight, and we lost. We were flat.''

Radke also got help from his defense. Third baseman Brent Gates and second baseman Todd Walker made diving catches of line drives in the third and seventh innings, respectively. Both catches saved a run because the Angels had a runner on second base each time. In all, the Angels lined out to an infielder five times in the game.

``We hit some balls hard,'' Collins said. ``When things are going your way, they find a hole. Tonight, they were hit right at 'em.''

The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Otis Nixon singled, stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on a two-out wild pitch by Sparks.

In the fourth, David Ortiz scored from first on a double by Pat Meares for a 2-0 Twins lead.

Two solo home runs by Steinbach (sixth inning off Sparks, eighth inning off Allen Watson) and another by Paul Molitor (seventh inning off Watson) increased the Twins' advantage to 5-0.

Sparks gave up five runs in his previous start but got 13 runs of support in a win over the Indians.

``For me, I have to pitch consistently, I can't worry about the score of the game,'' he said. ``The key for me is to pitch the same all the time so I can keep in a groove with my knuckleball.''

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Photo

PHOTO Minnesota's Paul Molitor leans back and laughs after one of Steve Sparks' knuckleballs is called a strike.

Tammy Lechner/Associated Press