Angels extend Pirates' losing skein to nine
Anaheim rallied in the ninth for a 4-2 victory.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Anaheim Angels turned a double play that wasn't made and a double that barely missed being caught into yet another exasperating loss for the can't-win Pittsburgh Pirates.
Chone Figgins' two-run double broke a tie in the ninth and made up for his earlier error, and Garret Anderson hit a two-run homer to lead the Angels past Pittsburgh 4-2 on Tuesday night in the Pirates' ninth consecutive loss.
The Pirates dropped their 14th in 15 games despite Craig Wilson's homer and matched their longest losing streak since a nine-game slide from Sept. 9-17, 2000.
Struggling at home
They are a major league-worst 9-19 at home and are 1-15 with 14 consecutive losses to AL West teams in interleague play.
Left fielder Jason Bay epitomized the mood of the Pirates after striking out four straight times. He sat quietly in front of his locker for about 15 minutes, his ballcap pulled over his face to hide his frustration.
"To tell you the truth, I don't even know how many we've lost," said teammate Bobby Hill, sitting only a few feet from Bay. "Every game's a game, and you have to come back the next day and play hard and not get off the track."
With the score tied at 2 in the ninth, Darin Erstad -- just off the disabled list -- singled off Salomon Torres (4-2) for his second hit. After a sacrifice bunt and a walk, pinch-hitter Jeff DaVanon hit a potential double-play ball to second baseman Abraham Nunez, but Adam Kennedy's hard slide may have prevented shortstop Jack Wilson from making the throw to first.
DaVanon then stole second, putting him into position to score on Figgins' grounder down the third-base line past a diving Hill.
"I was just trying to put the ball in play, and that's all I did," said Figgins, whose two-base error on Craig Wilson's bad-hop grounder in the seventh led to Hill's game-tying single.
Not make up hit
Figgins insisted he wasn't trying to make up for the error with his game-winning hit.
"It took a hop on me that I should have kept in front of me. ... You don't like to make an error, but you've got to keep going," said Figgins, who has started at five positions this season.
Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon thought his infield should have turned the double play on DaVanon's grounder, but Jack Wilson said the ball took a late hop that would've made his throw late regardless.
"When things aren't going your way, that's how you lose ballgames," Torres said. "Things could have gone our way, but when you have a bad streak that's the way things go."
Scot Shields (5-0) pitched two innings for the victory despite allowing the tying run in the seventh. Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth for his fifth save.