ANGELS SUPPLY THE HEARTACHE WASHBURN SHUTS DOWN INDIANS ANGELS 4, CLEVELAND 1.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

CLEVELAND - If Angels second baseman Adam Kennedy was feeling lonely on the field Sunday afternoon, he could blame pitcher Jarrod Washburn.

Through eight innings at Jacobs Field, Washburn didn't allow one Cleveland Indians baserunner to reach second base, limiting the best- hitting team in the American League to three singles.

Washburn finally relented a bit in the ninth inning, giving up a leadoff homer to Kenny Lofton. But closer Troy Percival (35th save) took the ball from Washburn and got the final three outs in the Angels' 4-1 win before 42,510.

The Angels (66-58) took two of three from the Indians and won four of six on the road trip but remained six games behind Oakland in the wild-card race. Since losing to the Padres on July 15, the Angels are 27-10.

Washburn (11-6) pitched as well as he has all season Sunday, striking out seven and walking none. The Indians' 3-4-5-6 hitters - Roberto Alomar, Juan Gonzalez, Ellis Burks and Jim Thome - went a combined 0 for 12 against Washburn with five strikeouts. Washburn struck out Thome all three times he faced him.

``He has the ingredients to pitch that type of game every time out,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``For the most part he doesn't rattle and he makes great pitches. That's a great recipe for success. He's showing he's becoming a premier pitcher in this league.''

The only thing Washburn didn't do Sunday was get the shutout, which would have been the first of his major-league career.

``I wanted it bad,'' Washburn said. ``Someday I'd like to throw a shutout, but I probably never will. Against that team it would be even better. They probably have the best offense in the American League. To be able to shut them down feels good.''

The Angels offense got only seven hits off Indians starter Bartolo Colon (10-9) and two relievers but made them count. Scott Spiezio followed a double by Garret Anderson with a two-run homer in the fourth inning, and Troy Glaus hit a two-run homer in the sixth.

``I didn't get as extended as I usually do when I hit a home run, but that one I knew was going a long way because (Colon) is throwing Mach 5,'' Spiezio said.

Glaus' homer was a line drive that cleared the fence in right field, increasing his team-leading total to 33. Glaus was just 5 for 24 on the trip, dropping his season average to .245, but Scioscia said he isn't concerned about Glaus' average.

``His run-production stats are in line with, if not exceeding, last year's,'' Scioscia said, noting that Glaus' 82 runs scored is tops on the team and his 79 RBI rank second. ``He has a grasp of production numbers. People see the batting average and think it reflects production. It doesn't.''

Glaus said: ``For me, the only thing that matters are runs scored and RBIs. Anything beyond that ... whatever.''

The Angels offense has averaged 5.1 runs per game in August, finally giving the pitching staff the support it has craved all season. They didn't exactly rip the cover off the ball with 13 runs in three games against Cleveland, but they didn't need to.

Starters Ramon Ortiz, Pat Rapp and Washburn combined for 23 1/3 of the 26 innings. Overall in the series, Angels pitching limited the Indians to a .187 average (17 for 91) and seven runs.

``We've all been feeding off each other,'' Washburn said. ``Nobody wants to be the guy to break up the momentum we have. We've played good baseball the last month and we all want to contribute. It's fun when everybody puts it together like we have.''

The Angels begin a seven-game homestand against perennial powers Boston and New York, but go in with a confidence level as high as it's been all season.

``Any time you have success, your confidence level goes up,'' Spiezio said. ``We've been feeling good for a while. The starting pitching has been great, the bullpen's been great and now we're getting key hits in key situations. But it has to continue down the stretch. We're going to have to get real hot to catch the teams in front of us.''

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Jarrod Washburn didn't allow a runner to reach second base through eight innings Sunday before giving up a leadoff homer to Kenny Lofton in the ninth.

Tony Dejak/Associated Press