ANGELS CONTINUE RUN-SCORING RUT BALTIMORE 7, ANGELS 2.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - At a time when the Angels should be feasting on teams with sub-.500 records, they all of a sudden have a new concern on their hands: scoring runs.

Travis Driskill, the Baltimore Orioles' 30-year-old rookie pitcher, shut out the Angels for six innings, fueling a 7-2 victory over the Angels in front of a sellout crowd of 43,342 at Edison Field on Thursday.

The previously unheralded Orioles pitching staff came into Anaheim and quieted the American League's second-best hitting team, taking two of three games and pushing the Angels five games behind the Seattle Mariners.

Tuesday night, rookie Rodrigo Lopez and three relievers shut out the Angels 3-0; Wednesday, veteran Scott Erickson held them to one run but lost 1-0.

Then came Driskill (6-1), who allowed eight hits. He gave up doubles to Tim Salmon, Brad Fullmer and Adam Kennedy, but all came with the bases empty. The Angels could not score off Driskill until the seventh, when they trailed 5-0.

The Angels' hitters probably can't wait for Tampa Bay and its 5.03 team ERA to arrive here tonight. But third baseman Troy Glaus, the team co-leader in home runs, left Thursday's game after the sixth inning when he aggravated a left ankle sprain he suffered Wednesday.

Manager Mike Scioscia said Glaus should be OK, but the Angels won't be if they can't score some runs the next seven games against the Devil Rays and Kansas City Royals. After those series, the Angels' schedule consists of contenders Oakland, Seattle, Boston and the New York Yankees.

``We have to win two of three at home when we have chances,'' Kennedy said. ``These games are going to happen, but we can't have them happen now. Baltimore's good. They have good pitching, but if we're going to contend with Seattle and Oakland, we need to win games like this, series like this.''

Exacerbating the offensive woes is the fact that outside of Ramon Ortiz and Jarrod Washburn, the starting pitching has been inconsistent. Kevin Appier lost Thursday for the sixth time in his past eight starts, but this time he at least gave his team a chance to win. Appier (6-7) pitched 6 1/3 innings and left trailing 3-0.

But reliever Scott Schoeneweis inherited two of Appier's baserunners in the seventh and allowed both to score on Gary Matthews Jr.'s two-run double. That made it 5-0.

Appier and first baseman Scott Spiezio noted that the Angels hit several balls hard but right at fielders throughout the series. And while Baltimore (40-42) is far from contending in the American League East, the Orioles do rank fifth in the AL, right behind the Angels, in ERA.

``Three runs in three games ...'' Scioscia said. ``But you have to give (Baltimore) some credit. They came in, worked ahead of the count a lot. They played better than us, and they won two out of three.''

Driskill retired the side in order just once, in the sixth, but the Angels couldn't put together consecutive hits until Scott Spiezio and Jorge Fabregas singled to lead off the seventh.

That finished Driskill, who was replaced by Yorkis Perez. He yielded an RBI single to Kennedy, the Angels' first run-scoring hit out of the infield all series. Willis Roberts came on for Perez and gave up an RBI fielder's choice to David Eckstein, but got Darin Erstad to ground out and struck out Salmon to end the threat.

Appier failed to register a quality start for the seventh time in his past eight outings. But while things started ominously - he gave up two runs in the second and needed a pop fly and strikeout to escape that bases-loaded jam - Appier settled down. The former Antelope Valley High star gave up just an RBI single to Geronimo Gil in the fourth before Gil and Melvin Mora singled to lead off the seventh, setting up Matthews' double.

The Angels' defense followed the lead of the offense in the eighth, which reliever Lou Pote should have escaped unscathed. The Angels called a pitchout on Chris Singleton's steal attempt, but catcher Fabregas failed to grip the ball quickly and Singleton reached second.

The inning should have ended on Mora's chopper to third, but Spiezio - distracted by Mike Bordick's presence in the basepath - threw wide of first, drawing Benji Gil off the bag. That enabled Singleton to score, and Bordick came home on Brian Roberts' infield single for a 7-2 lead.