SALMON SPAWNS VICTORY HIS FIRST-PITCH HOME RUN IN 13TH IS A GAME-WINNER ANGELS 4, MINNESOTA 3.

Byline: Steve Ramirez Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - When it's going good, it's going good. And it's going very good for the Angels.

Saturday night was another case in point after veteran right fielder Tim Salmon homered in the bottom of the 13th inning to complete a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins in front of 31,820 at Edison Field.

It was the Angels' 22nd victory in their past 26 games and moved them within two games of first-place Seattle in the AL West. The Angels have now gone more then a month without losing back-to-back games.

``Winning is just contagious,'' Salmon said. ``They just build on each other. You have a good night and it builds on to the next night and then the next night.

``When you get on that roll, you get those good emotional feelings, and that's what we're experiencing.''

It showed in the ninth inning, when the Angels rallied to tie the score 3-3 against Twins reliever Eddie Guardado, considered one of the most reliable closers in the league.

Scott Speizo walked with one out, and catcher Bengie Molina followed with an RBI double that scored pinch runner Julio Ramirez.

The Angels had a chance to win it, but Adam Kennedy's line drive was snagged by shortstop Cristian Guzman, who easily doubled off pinch runner Alfredo Amezaga.

``The walk was huge,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``Bengie was having a tough night at the plate, but we kept telling these guys, `Keep your heads up, someone's going to get a big hit to win the game.' But for Bengie to come up and get a big hit like that, that's a big lift for us.''

It stayed that way until Salmon hammered relief pitcher Jack Cressend's first pitch of the 13th to win it.

``My thought was I don't know what his other pitches are,'' Salmon said. ``I'll just look for the fastball, and fortunately I didn't pop it up.''

Anaheim, which is batting .308 in its past 25 games, demonstrated good situational hitting to take a 2-0 lead in the second inning.

Brad Fullmer, who hit .407 against the Twins last season, opened with a double off the right-field wall. Second baseman Denny Hocking then bobbled a Spiezo grounder for an error before second baseman Kennedy lined a double down the right-field line to give the Angels a 1-0 lead.

Shortstop Jose Nieves then dropped down a perfect squeeze-bunt single to score Spiezo for a 2-0 edge. Kennedy also tried to score on the play but was thrown out by first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz. Right fielder Orlando Palmeiro, who started in place of Salmon, followed with a double down the left-field line, but Nieves was thrown out at home plate to end the inning.

For a while, it appeared that's all Jarrod Washburn would need. He retired the first 11 batters and no-hit the Twins for the first 4 2/3 innings.

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The Angels' Jarrod Washburn retired the first 11 batters Saturday night and no-hit the Minnesota Twins for the first 5 2/3 innings.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press