Erstad Has Unhappy Landing in Victory

OAKLAND —  The Angels could not cheer. On the rare night when the hitters carried the team, the Angels’ thoughts were with Darin Erstad, their center fielder and team leader.

As the players headed onto the field for the postgame handshake, presumably relieved after the pitching staff blew all but two runs of an eight-run lead, they awaited word on the condition of Erstad, taken to a local hospital for tests after possibly suffering a head injury while trying to make a diving catch.

The Angels posted season highs in runs, hits and walks in a 9-7 victory over the Oakland Athletics Friday. Bengie Molina drove in three runs and had three of the Angels’ 12 hits. The Angels blew most of a 9-1 lead and gave up four runs in the bottom of the ninth before Troy Percival, fresh off a two-week stay on the disabled list, recorded his first save since April 2, throwing as hard as 98 mph.

Erstad was taken for X-rays and a CT scan of his head and neck, which came back negative, according to Allan Pont, the A’s team physician. Pont examined Erstad after he left the game and found him to be “lightheaded” and “a little groggy,” with concern about a concussion or other residual effect from a play Tuesday in which Erstad slammed his head into the outfield fence at Edison Field.

Rather than celebrate his save, Percival dressed hurriedly to go visit Erstad at the hospital, where the outfielder was expected to remain overnight for observation.

Erstad left the game an inning after diving for a line drive hit by Carlos Pena in the third. Erstad did not make the catch but landed hard on the ground--hitting his chin, Pont said, and perhaps jarring his head.

Erstad batted in the fourth inning, then was replaced by Jeff DaVanon. After a clubhouse examination by Pont, Erstad was taken to the hospital.

“It was tough for him to focus,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “His equilibrium was a little bit off.... He obviously was in no condition to play a ballgame.”

Erstad’s body took a beating during Tuesday’s game, in which he slammed his head into the outfield fence, breaking his fall with his arms, and later dived for two other balls. Erstad was cleared to play Wednesday after undergoing tests, and Pont said Angel trainers have kept Erstad under close observation since then.

Percival said he spoke briefly with Erstad in the clubhouse before he was taken to the hospital. “I just told him to hang on tight,” Percival said.

The game featured a nice display of the offensive diversity the Angels promised this spring. They did not hit a home run, but the highlights were many and varied.

Brad Fullmer dived into first base to beat out an infield single and later stole a base. Adam Kennedy dropped a bunt single. Tim Salmon did not get a hit, but he drew two of the Angels’ five walks.

Kennedy, who had not driven in a run this season, drove in two. Troy Glaus singled to end an 0-for-21 skid. Fullmer scored twice, as did Scott Spiezio. Kennedy, Garret Anderson and David Eckstein each had two hits.

By the fifth inning, the Angels led by five runs, their largest lead of the season. They extended the lead to eight runs before the A’s chased Jarrod Washburn by scoring twice in the seventh inning. Washburn, who held Oakland to one run over the first six innings, earned his first victory of the season.

The Angels displayed ample offensive creativity in the third inning, when they scored four runs, and in the fifth, when they scored two more on one hit, one hit batsman and two walks.

In the third inning, the Angels put the first three runners on base, the first time they had done so in any inning in nine days. Scioscia twice used the hit-and-run, a prelude to RBI singles by Kennedy and Fullmer and a two-run double by Anderson.

Even with the win, the Angels are 6-10 and 61/2 games out of first place.

“We already have a serious uphill climb,” Erstad said before the game. “But I truly believe we’re going to hit. We’re going to score runs.”

They did Friday, without him. Whether they can do it without him for an extended period, if necessary, is another question.