DOUBLE-LOSS DAY FOR ANGELS DETROIT 10, ANGELS 2.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

DETROIT - The Angels began the day losing their MVP of the past three seasons to the disabled list, so it only seemed fitting that the losing didn't stop there.

Pitcher Bartolo Colon lost command of his fastball, and the Angels saw their winning streak of five games come to an end with a 10-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers Wednesday night in front of 17,175 at Comerica Park.

Ironically, it was last season's big loser - Detroit's 21-game loser Mike Maroth - who shut down the Angels' offense on his way to the victory. Maroth, 3-1 this season after going 9-21 last year, gave up two runs and six hits in seven innings.

With Angels center fielder Garret Anderson going to the disabled list for the first time in his career before the game, Colon (3-2) took the ball with a chance to extend an Angels winning streak for the first time all season. He started opening day, and in his other three starts, he followed Angels' losses.

The Tigers, though, never allowed Colon to find his rhythm, getting to him early and often and knocking him out of the game after only four innings, his shortest stint as an Angel.

The Tigers scored seven runs on seven hits off Colon, and had 15 hits in all. Alex Sanchez and Bobby Higginson each had three hits for the Tigers.

Colon's velocity was down slightly from his typical 97 mph, but that wasn't the problem on Wednesday. Colon could not throw his fastball where he wanted to, and consequently he fell behind in counts, spelling trouble from the start.

``Every pitch I threw was high,'' Colon said through and interpreter. ``The hitters took advantage of it. ... The fact is my fastball, I was not able to locate it where I wanted. I wanted to go to my breaking ball to get out of jams. But my fastball was running right over the plate.

``It seems like I've been throwing from the stretch more often the last couple of games, and that affects my velocity. But when I really want to put something on my fastball, I can do it. I was more worried about movement tonight than velocity.''

It didn't take long to see that Colon wasn't on his game Wednesday. With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Colon yielded three consecutive hits, including Rondell White's two-run double.

That erased the Angels' brief lead, taken in the top of the first inning on Troy Glaus' two-run homer, his team-leading seventh of the season.

Colon seemed to get himself right in the second inning, retiring the side in order. But in the third, it fell apart for him. He gave up four hits, including Higginson's two-run double, walked one and hit another with a pitch.

Colon struck out the last two batters of the inning, but by that time the Tigers had scored five runs and taken a 7-2 lead.

``Bart looked like he had a little trouble repeating pitches,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``And he was up in the zone. He made some good pitches but he wasn't consistent enough. He was just off tonight. ... Give Detroit credit. They were selective and worked counts.''

Meanwhile, Maroth looked nothing like a 21-game loser. After giving up Glaus' homer with two outs in the first, Maroth retired the next 11 Angels batters, not allowing another baserunner until Bengie Molina's one out single in the fifth.

Maroth completed seven innings using just 84 pitches and now has pitched at least seven innings in three consecutive starts.

Joe Haakenson, [phone]

joe.haakenson(at)sgvn.com

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