ANGELS GET THE RUNAROUND WILLITS, MATTHEWSD BUSY DURING LOSS BALTIMORE 6, ANGELS 2.

Byline: BEN VILLA

Staff Writer

ANAHEIM -- While Angels rookie Reggie Willits is having a great year at the plate, he showed Thursday night he still has a lot to learn about playing the outfield.

Willits badly misjudged a ball in the top of the fifth inning that led to three runs, as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Angels 6-2 in front of 42,266 at Angel Stadium.

"There was some miscommunication between Reggie and Gary Matthews (Jr.) on that play," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "The ball split the gap and it was because of both of them have good speed that they even caught up to it but, at the last second, Reggie peeled off of it. Gary thought the same thing and neither could get to it."

Kelvim Escobar (6-3) started for the Angels, and while he wasn't his usual dominant self at home, he pitched well enough to go eight innings and keep his team in the game.

He gave up a run in the top of the first inning when Brian Roberts scored on a groundout by Miguel Tejada, snapping Escobar's consecutive scoreless streak at home at 21 innings.

The Angels tied the score in their half of the first inning when Orlando Cabrera and Vladimir Guerrero hit back-to-back doubles off Orioles starter Brian Burres (3-2).

The left-hander was making just his fifth start of the season and first ever against the Angels, but he did a good job of keeping them off-balanced.

When the Angels had opportunities to score, Burres managed to wiggle out of danger each time. He went five innings, throwing 86 pitches to earn his third win of the season.

In the top of the fifth inning, disaster struck for the Angels.

After Escobar walked Kevin Millar to lead off the inning, Ramon Hernandez hit a towering fly ball to left-center, but it looked like Matthews had a bead on the ball.

Willits, however, was also running hard on the play and appeared to distract Matthews, and the two almost collided, with neither catching the ball as it fell in for a double.

"I called it, but I'm not sure if Gary did," Willits said. "I went after it like it was mine, but he might not have heard it and at the last second, I saw him and took my eye off the ball. I couldn't say 100 percent that I was going to catch it."

Escobar came back to strike Corey Patterson out but Roberts gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead when he singled home Millar. Markakis then doubled into left-center, scoring two more runs for the Orioles.

"That was a tough play in the outfield, it happens," Escobar said. "You just try and make good pitches, that's all you can control. They got me in that inning and that was the difference in the game."

The Angels had an opportunity in the sixth inning to draw closer, but with runners on first and second and one out, Orioles reliever Danny Baez got Mike Napoli and Shea Hillenbrand to fly out to end the threat.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Angels pulled closer when Chone Figgins led off with a single and Willits walked. Cabrera then sent Figgins to third on a flyout and Guerrero singled him in to get the Angels to within 4-2.

One batter later, Casey Kotchman stepped up representing the go-ahead run, but he never got a chance to swing the bat.Willits was thrown out by Hernandez as he tried to steal third base, ending the inning.

Coincidentally enough, Kotchman led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a double off the right-field wall, but was stranded after Orioles reliever Chad Bradford retired the next three batters in order.

"We were trying to get Casey into a better hitter's position in the seventh inning," Scioscia said. "We weren't trying to take the bat out of his hands. Reggie was trying to get a good jump but when he didn't, he had to shut it down and try and get back. But the bottom line was, we had runners in scoring position all night and we just didn't get the job done."

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1) Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick can't reach a ball hit by Baltimore's Miguel Tejada in the first inning Thursday.

(2) Angels starter Kelvin Escobar hung in as long as possible Thursday, giving up five runs in his eight innings.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Box:

ANGELS vs. BALTIMORE

- Ben Villa