ANGELS ARE UP, BUT HILL IS DOWN : ANGELS 10, MINNESOTA 8.

Byline: Frank C. Girardot 

A troubling drought that saw the Angels go scoreless for 18 innings ended with a bang Wednesday night.

The Angels scored nine runs in the third inning against the Minnesota Twins at Edison Field, and held on to win 10-8 after the Twins made some offensive noise of their own.

``There's no reason to go through what we went through out there,'' manager Terry Collins said of Minnesota's comeback. ``This is a perfect example of what can happen when you're in a pennant race. But by God, when you are playing for something, you cannot let your concentration go.''

For the Angels, the victory was tainted by yet another injury to yet another pitcher. Starter Ken Hill had to be pulled in the second inning after he was hit in the right hand by a batted ball. Hill bruised the thumb, index and middle fingers of his right hand.

X-rays were negative, Collins said, but it is not known how long the soreness will linger.

The game also marked the return of closer Troy Percival, who appeared in the ninth and sealed the win. Percival struck out two and recorded his 39th save.

Percival had been out of action for seven days with a strained shoulder. ``Right now, I'm fine, just fine,'' he said. ``I'm ready to pitch whenever they need me.''

The victory enabled the Angels to stay two games ahead of the Texas Rangers in the American League West. The Rangers shut out Kansas City 8-0 Wednesday night.

The Angels ended a five-game homestand in which they went 3-2. They leave today for a seven-game road trip with stops at Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Texas.

The Angels' nine-run third inning began with singles by Randy Velarde and Jim Edmonds. Then Tim Salmon did something that no Angel had done in 41 previous innings. He homered.

Garret Anderson, Chris Pritchett, Charlie O'Brien, Gary DiSarcina and Orlando Palmeiro also had hits in the inning. Edmonds hit twice and scored twice. Anderson hit twice and scored once in the inning.

The outburst marked the second time this season the Angels produced a nine-run inning.

The Twins scored their first run in the first inning when Matt Lawton drove a Hill fastball 395 feet to right-center. The solo home run was Lawton's 18th of the season.

Things looked perilous for the Angels in the top of the second. Todd Walker smashed a shot at Hill that caught the pitcher in the right hand. A sacrifice fly by David Ortiz then scored Walker to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead.

After catcher Terry Steinbach singled with one out, Collins pulled Hill in favor of Omar Olivares.

For the Angels, Anderson led off the second with a chopper that was too hot for pitcher Frank Rodriguez to handle, and soon after Craig Shipley and Charlie O'Brien singled to load the bases. DiSarcina drove in one run with a grounder to short, ending the team's scoring drought.

The Twins picked up their third run of the night in the sixth inning when Ortiz hit a solo home run to right.

In the seventh, the Twins scored their fourth run when Angels reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa gave up doubles to the first two batters he faced, Alex Ochoa and Denny Hocking. Walker drove in Hocking with a single.