Angels Get a Shot of Offense, 6-3

ANAHEIM — It’s said that hitting is contagious. But the way the Angels had been going, it seemed as if they were inoculated against it.

The only malady spreading in the Angel clubhouse was slumping sickness. As Manager Doug Rader noted before Saturday’s game, not hitting can be catching, too.

The hitting bug finally seized the Angels Saturday, as they scored five runs in the first inning of a 6-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in front of 29,612 at Anaheim Stadium.

The Angels jubilantly shook their offensive struggles, at least for the moment.

“It’s about time we jumped on top,” said Dave Winfield, who was mired in a 1-for-13 stretch before delivering a two-run double in the first. “It gives the club a different feeling for the whole game.”

Never mind that six of their nine hits came in the first inning. After getting only five hits in a shutout loss Friday night, who was to complain?

“That was a real welcome sight,” Rader said. “Hopefully, we’ll do more of that.”

The Angels sent 11 batters to the plate in the first. Nine of them reached base, and four of the first five had crossed the plate before the Orioles pulled starter Jeff M. Robinson (1-3), who faced seven batters and retired only one. Robinson shares two-thirds of his name with Jeff D. Robinson, an Angel reliever.

Fans often confuse the two pitchers, asking them to sign autographs on the other’s baseball cards, even though he Angel pitcher has distinctive white-blond hair, and the Oriole has brown.

After the Baltimore pitcher’s outing Saturday, the mistake would be no compliment. Robinson (1-3) gave up five runs on 30 pitches.

The Angels hadn’t scored five runs in the first inning since July 27, 1989, against the Chicago White Sox, and they hadn’t chased a starter in the first inning since they ran off Paul Kilgus of the Texas Rangers on Sept. 16, 1988.

Kilgus, by coincidence, was in the ballpark Saturday, as an Oriole reliever. He faced the Angels for 1 2/3 innings later in the game, but didn’t give up a hit.

Robinson had done enough. The Angels’ Lance Parrish added a sixth-inning homer, his fourth, off reliever Bob Milacki.

Luis Polonia led off the game with a double off the glove of center fielder Mike Devereaux.

Robinson then recorded his only out by striking out Donnie Hill, But he gave up the first run on Wally Joyner’s single to right.

Joyner’s .315 average made him one of the few Angels who have been thriving at the plate, but even he was 0 for four the night before, and only two for his past 12.

He was the first of six consecutive Angels to reach base. Gary Gaetti, in a rare appearance as the cleanup man, followed with a single, and Dave Parker, hitless in his past seven at-bats and batting .202, followed with a walk to load the bases.

Next up was Winfield, who was mired in a one-for-13 stretch this home stand. He delivered a double to left, driving in two more runs. Parrish, whose single drove in Parker, would be the last batter Robinson would face.

Milacki gave up a broken-bat RBI single to Jack Howell, and got the second out by striking out Dave Gallagher.

Polonia, batting for the second time in the inning, walked but was forced on Hill’s grounder.

Mark Langston (2-1), who gave up three runs on five hits over seven innings, earned the victory.

Langston, who threw 116 pitches, walked six and struck out four. The Angels’ Jeff Robinson relieved him, and Bryan Harvey pitched the ninth for his fifth save.