STUBBORN FINLEY PUTS ON A CLINIC; HE STRIKES OUT SEVEN, ALLOWS JUST THREE HITS IN NINE INNINGS FOR WIN : ANGELS 4, TAMPA BAY 0.

Byline: Associated Press 

Ryan Rupe flirted with a no-hitter. Chuck Finley won the game.

The Angels, held to one hit in nine innings, scored four runs in the 10th Sunday to shut out the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 4-0 on a combined three-hitter by Finley and Troy Percival.

Rupe, the first Devil Rays draft pick to make it to the majors, faced the minimum of 18 batters before Darin Erstad began the seventh inning with Anaheim's lone hit off him.

But Finley (3-4) kept pace, allowing three hits and striking out seven in nine innings. Percival pitched a perfect 10th after Anaheim took the lead.

``This was real old-fashioned baseball,'' Angels catcher Charlie O'Brien said. ``Guys worked the strike zone and really had a great idea of what to do. They hit their spots and kept the ball down. It was just classic baseball.''

Rupe struck out a season-high eight and walked none. Roberto Hernandez (0-3) replaced him at the start of the 10th and allowed four runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning.

Garret Anderson's RBI single snapped the scoreless tie, and Hernandez also gave up a run-scoring single to Jeff Huson and Andy Sheets' sacrifice fly.

The fourth Angels run scored on third baseman Herbert Perry's throwing error.

``Our guy was just as good as their guy,'' Anaheim's Mo Vaughn said. ``We caught a break, so we'll take it.''

Major-league home run leader Jose Canseco missed the game because of a stiff back, and the Devil Rays were shut out for the first time since last Sept. 17.

The streak of 54 consecutive games without a shutout was the longest in the AL.

The Devil Rays and Angels scored 33 runs and had 51 hits between them in the first two games of the series. There were a total of seven runners left on base Sunday after 23 were stranded during Anaheim's 8-6 victory Saturday night.

``It's a shame,'' Tampa Bay manager Larry Rothschild said. ``With all the runs we've been scoring, and the one day Ryan goes out there and pitches like he does we don't get him one.

``He really deserved a win coming out of that game.''

Rupe made his big-league debut May 5, allowing four hits - all home runs - in a no-decision against the Kansas City Royals. He got his first win last Monday, pitching seven innings in a 13-3 victory over Texas.

The lone baserunner for the Angels in the first six innings was O'Brien, who was hit by a pitch in the third before Rupe got Sheets to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Finley was sharp, too, allowing just two hits and walking two over the same stretch. Anaheim turned double plays in the first, second and fourth innings to erase three of those baserunners.

Erstad's single in the seventh was not the hardest ball hit off Rupe. Quinton McCracken made a nice running, one-hand catch in right-center on Randy Velarde's line drive in the fourth, and Chris Pritchett lined to right-fielder Dave Martinez in the second.

Finley retired 12 batters in a row after Perry reached on Velarde error at second base in the fourth inning. The left-hander struck out Perry in the seventh to become the 52nd pitcher to record 2,000 strikeouts.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO Angels pitcher Chuck Finley was up to the challenge Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla., outlasting his counterpart, Ryan Rupe of the Devil Rays.

Scott Martin/Associated Press