BATS COME ALIVE AT THE END ANGELS, HANDCUFFED BY WESTBROOK, RALLY WITH TWO RUNS IN NINTH ANGELS 2, CLEVELAND 1.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

CLEVELAND - For eight innings Wednesday afternoon, the Angels' bats might as well have been packed away and already loaded onto their charter flight home to Southern California.

Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Jake Westbrook so thoroughly dominated the Angels' lineup that when Adam Kennedy came to the plate with one out in the ninth inning, no Angel had been on base since Steve Finley singled to open the second inning, a string of 21 consecutive hitters.

Kennedy's single in the top half of the final frame started a rally, lifting the Angels to a 2-1 victory before 19,030 at Jacobs Field and giving the Angels two wins in the three-game series. The Angels return home after winning four of six on their trip.

Angels starter Bartolo Colon was on the wrong end of an outstanding pitchers' duel for most of the afternoon, but he came out a winner after the Angels' two-run rally. Colon (5-3), pitching on three days' rest, gave up one run on four hits in eight innings before giving way to Scot Shields, who pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save.

Colon's only mistake of the day, a two-out, RBI double to Jody Gerut in the fourth inning, appeared as if it would be enough for the Indians, the way Westbrook was pitching. Westbrook (1-7) struck out pinch-hitter Juan Rivera to begin the ninth, then got ahead in the count 0-2 on Kennedy.

But Kennedy worked the count full before hitting a line drive to left field.

``I tip my hat to Mr. Kennedy,'' said the Angels' Chone Figgins. ``If it wasn't for that at-bat, we wouldn't be celebrating. He went from 0-2 to fouling off all those pitches and (with the single) putting (Westbrook) in an unfamiliar position, pitching from a stretch. It was something (Westbrook) hadn't done all day.''

Figgins singled to right field, moving Kennedy to second. First baseman Darin Erstad followed Figgins' at-bat with a groundball single to right, scoring Kennedy, who just beat the right fielder Casey Blake's throw to tie the score.

``The way I handled that situation was I was going to be aggressive, I wasn't going to let him get in a count where he could dictate what he wanted to do,'' said Erstad, who hit the first pitch thrown. ``I'm sure he was looking for a groundball, and he got a groundball. It just found a hole.''

Figgins advanced to third on Blake's throw home, which proved to be a big play, as the next batter, pinch-hitter Bengie Molina, hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Figgins easily beat another strong throw by Blake to give the Angels a 2-1 lead.

It wasn't a lot of offense, but because of their outstanding pitching, it was enough. Colon threw 109 pitches three days after tossing 88 against the Tigers. He struggled to find the strike zone at times, walking four batters.

``The pitch that got it done for me today was my changeup,'' Colon said through an interpreter. ``I didn't throw a lot of them, but it got my body into a groove.''

Joe Haakenson, [phone]

joe.haakenson(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 3 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Bengie Molina's sacrifice fly in the ninth brings home Chone Figgins with the winning run.

(2) Angels pitcher Bartolo Colon earns his fifth victory, throwing 109 pitches in eight innings against Cleveland on three days' rest.

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

Box:

(1) GAME RECAP

(2) HOW THE RUNS SCORED

(3) ALMANAC