HALOS MISS SWEEP GONZALEZ H.R. GIVES RANGERS CLOSING VICTORY TEXAS 9, ANGELS 8.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - Juan Gonzalez might some day end up in the Hall of Fame. And if he does, he might be inclined to offer a word of thanks to the Angels during his induction speech.

Gonzalez has driven in more runs against the Angels (114) than any other team in the majors, and that includes the four RBI he had Thursday night in the Texas Rangers' 9-6 victory before 17,948 at Edison Field.

Gonzalez's three-run homer off Angels starter Kevin Appier keyed a seven-run third inning as the Rangers avoided a four-game sweep. With the loss, the Angels missed a chance to move within one game of first-place Seattle in the A.L. West.

Gonzalez's homer was the 401st of his career, and No. 35 against the Angels. Only the Cleveland Indians (37) have been on the wrong end of more of Gonzalez's homers. He went 2 for 4 Thursday, increasing his career average against the Angels to .328.

Against Appier, though, Gonzalez had only one homer in 57 career at-bats and a .228 average before Thursday.

Appier went into the game having lost his previous two starts, but he didn't pitch all that poorly in either one. He gave up two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings in a 5-2 loss and four earned runs in 6 2/3 innings in a 4-2 loss, both against the Twins.

Despite those losses, he's been the Angels' most consistent starter this season, and he retired the first five batters Thursday. However, he found trouble in the third inning.

With one out, the Rangers strung together four consecutive hits, starting with Jason Romano's double and ending with Gonzalez's three-run homer for a 4-0 Rangers lead. Appier walked the next batter, Rafael Palmeiro, and one out later gave up a double to Ryan Ludwick.

Appier might have gotten out of it right there, but third baseman Troy Glaus couldn't come up with Bill Haselman's grounder to the hole at short, Glaus being charged with an error. That allowed one run to score, and Michael Young followed with an RBI single to knock Appier out of the game.

Lou Pote came in and gave up an RBI single to Romano, his second hit of the inning. The run was charged to Appier, who gave up seven runs (four earned) and eight hits in 2 2/3 innings, matching his shortest outing of the year.

Even though they were down 7-0, the Angels weren't out of it. It was only the third inning, and they came back with four runs in the bottom of the third.

Bengie Molina led off the inning with a double and he went to third on a single by Jose Nieves. David Eckstein doubled home one run and another scored on Darin Erstad's groundout.

The inning appeared to stall when Glaus grounded out of the second out of the inning, but Anderson followed with a two-run homer to bring the Angels to within 7-4.

Mike Lamb's solo homer in the fourth gave the Rangers an 8-4 lead, but the Angels put the tying run at the plate against Rogers in the fifth. Walks by Nieves and Anderson sandwiched around a single by Erstad loaded the bases for Tim Salmon with two out.

Rogers had made 96 pitches at that point, but Rangers manager Jerry Narron elected to keep him in the game. Salmon worked the count full before flying out to deep center, and it was Rogers' last pitch of the game. Todd Van Poppel replaced Rogers to start the sixth.

The Rangers gave themselves more of a cushion in the sixth when Lamb singled, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Gonzalez, making it 9-4, Rangers.

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Photo:

Ryan Ludwick steals second base between Benji Gil, left, and Jose Nieves of the Angels during the Rangers' 9-6 victory in the series finale at Edison Field.

John Hayes/Associated Press