Angels’ Ninth-Inning Spree Gives Bullpen Some Leeway : Baseball: They score five late runs and beat Milwaukee, 9-3, in rain-delayed game.

MILWAUKEE — How’s this for a change? The Angels actually blew a save for closer Lee Smith on Thursday night.

Smith began warming up in the bottom of the eighth inning with the Angels clinging to a one-run lead against the Milwaukee Brewers, the right-hander poised to enter the game and shoot for his 25th save.

But before Smith could break a sweat, the Angels broke loose for five runs in the top of the ninth to cap a 9-3 victory over the Brewers in front of a paid crowd of 15,041 in County Stadium.

Smith took a seat in the bullpen and Mike James came on to pitch the ninth, retiring the Brewers in order just as a driving rainstorm swept across the field.

The start of the game was also delayed for 91 minutes because of rain, which gave the Angels plenty of time to ponder Thursday’s trade with the Chicago White Sox that brought popular pitcher Jim Abbott back to the Angels.

“I don’t know if it’s the final piece to the puzzle, but it’s going to help,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “He’s obviously going to give us another quality starter. He has one of the top earned-run averages in the league, and he’s another guy who gives us a chance to win every fifth day.”

Mark Langston and Chuck Finley, former teammates and still close friends with Abbott, were especially excited about the deal.

“We bettered our team, and it’s a lot nicer that it’s someone we know very well,” Langston said. “No adjustments will be needed. Sometimes you get traded and it’s tough to make the move, but he’ll blend in well here. He hasn’t gotten a lot of run support in Chicago, but he’ll get nothing but that here.”

Added Finley: “Everyone likes Jim, and he’s going to be a big part of our team. I don’t think there’s many pitchers out there who wouldn’t like to be a part of this offense.”

The Angels showed why Thursday night, scoring nine unanswered runs after falling behind, 3-0, after four innings. Jim Edmonds had three hits and three runs batted in, and Tim Salmon had two hits and three RBIs.

Salmon broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth with a double down the right-field line to score Tony Phillips, who had singled and stolen second, but the Angels nearly self-destructed in the bottom of the inning.

Starter Brian Anderson, who gave up three runs and seven hits and struck out three, hit Darryl Hamilton with a pitch. Troy Percival replaced Anderson and balked Hamilton to second. Percival’s next pitch to Jeff Cirillo went to the backstop, sending Hamilton to third.

Cirillo walked to put runners on first and third with none out, but Percival got Kevin Seitzer to foul out to first baseman J.T. Snow.

Greg Vaughn then chopped a grounder to Phillips at third, and Phillips threw Hamilton out at the plate. Left-hander Bob Patterson then relieved Percival and struck out B.J. Surhoff on a 3-and-2 curve to end the inning.

“We didn’t make it real easy on ourselves,” Lachemann said. “We dug ourselves a hole but then did an excellent job getting out of it. Normally when you see that many mistakes in that short a time period, panic usually sets in. But we kept grinding it out.”

The Angels put the game out of reach in the top of the ninth, two runs scoring on Edmonds’ bases-loaded single, one on Salmon’s RBI double and two more on Chili Davis’ single.

The Brewers had built a 3-0 lead on Seitzer’s sacrifice fly in the first, Matt Mieske’s bases-empty home run in the second and Mieske’s sacrifice fly in the fourth.

The Angels had only two hits off Milwaukee knuckleballer Steve Sparks through five innings, but tied it in the sixth.

Gary DiSarcina singled to left with one out, Phillips singled to center, and Edmonds doubled to left-center to make it 3-1. Salmon lofted a fly ball to medium right field, and Phillips, tagging at third, barely beat Mieske’s throw to the plate to cut the lead to 3-2. Snow’s RBI single tied the game at 3-3.