ANGELS FIND WAY TO WIN : ANGELS 5, MINNESOTA 3.

Byline: Associated Press 

Something finally went right for the Angels, and it was no surprise that Garret Anderson was the player who got it done.

Virtually the only player in the lineup who has hit well during a terrible July swoon, Anderson delivered a two-run double in the ninth inning to give the Angels just their fifth win of the month, a 5-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.

``We've been waiting for a big hit in a big situation, and he provided it,'' said starter Steve Sparks, who tied a season high with seven strikeouts thanks to a nasty knuckleball.

The Angels came into the game hitting a miserable .242 as a team in July, the biggest reason for their 4-13 record before Wednesday's win. They stranded eight runners in Tuesday's 4-2 loss to the Twins - Anderson alone left five men on - and 10 more Wednesday.

But after wasting good scoring chances in the fourth, sixth and eighth innings, Anderson came through in the ninth.

Greg Swindell (2-3) came on to start the ninth for the Twins and gave up a one-out single to Justin Baughman. Darin Erstad hit a foul popup to the catcher for the second out. But Tim Salmon walked on four pitches to bring up Anderson, who had extended his hitting streak to a career-best 19 games with a second-inning single.

He lined Swindell's first pitch just inside the right-field line, barely out of the reach of first baseman David Ortiz, to snap a 3-3 tie.

``We've been waiting quite a few days for one of those hits,'' manager Terry Collins said.

Troy Percival pitched the ninth for his league-leading 28th save, pulling the Angels within a half-game of Texas in the AL West in spite of their recent struggles. Shigetoshi Hasegawa (5-1) got two outs in the eighth for the win.

Minnesota's Paul Molitor took over sole possession of 10th place on the career hit list with a third-inning single. That gave him 3,256 hits, one better than Eddie Murray and 27 behind ninth-place Willie Mays.

But Molitor was one of several Twins who were baffled much of the game by Sparks' knuckler. Throwing the pitch about 95 percent of the time, Sparks allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings.

``When a guy like Paul Molitor comes to the plate and looks at me and says, `Wow', that's impressive,'' catcher Phil Nevin said.

The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Craig Shipley's sacrifice fly. The Twins rallied with two runs in the bottom half on Todd Walker's RBI single and Terry Steinbach's RBI double.

The Angels tied it in the third when Jim Edmonds led off with a double and scored on Erstad's one-out grounder to first. They had a chance to take the lead in the fourth with two men on and one out, but Brad Radke got Nevin and Gary DiSarcina on consecutive tappers back to the mound to end the inning.

Radke got out of trouble again with two outs in the sixth when he got Nevin to hit into a fielder's choice with runners at first and second.

The Angels took a 3-2 lead in the seventh on Baughman's RBI single, but the Twins tied it in the bottom half when Steinbach hit into a double play, allowing Ron Coomer to score from third.

The Angels missed another chance in the eighth as DiSarcina hit into an inning-ending fielder's choice with runners at first and third.

ANGELS vs. MINNESOTA

Time: 5:05 p.m. at the Metrodome.

TV/Radio: No TV, KRLA-AM (1110), XPRS-AM (1090, Spanish)

Matchup: In the third game of a three-game series, right-hander Jason Dickson (9-7, 5.87 ERA) takes the mound for Anaheim. Left-hander Eric Milton (5-7, 4.75 ERA) will get the start for Minnesota.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

PHOTO (Color) Minnesota's Matt Lawton, right, is out after sliding into the tag by the Angels' Justin Baughman.

Ann Heisenfelt/Associated Press

BOX: ANGELS vs. MINNESOTA (see text)