Baseball: Awesome Salmon lifts Angels to level series

Ben Walker
Tuesday 22 October 2002 00:00 BST
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Tim Salmon's second two-run homer of the night lifted the Anaheim Angels to a thrilling 11-10 comeback victory over the San Francisco Giants in Game Two of the World Series on Sunday, levelling the best-of-seven series at 1-1.

The longest-serving member of the Angels, Salmon stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning with two out and smacked Felix Rodriguez's first offering over the fence in deep left centre.

The blast brought in David Eckstein to send Anaheim into an 11-9 lead and the sold-out Edison Field crowd of 44,584 into a frenzy.

"I think I made the most of my opportunities. It was awesome," Salmon said. "The way the game went back and forth was unbelievable. We knew there was going to be a hero in the dug-out and tonight it was me." But Angel supporters had to wait to celebrate the win as Barry Bonds kept them on the edge of their seats, hitting Troy Percival for a solo home run with two out in the ninth to pull the Giants within one run.

With the crowd gripped by tension, Percival got Benito Santiago to fly out to Adam Kennedy in right field sending the series to San Francisco for Game Three on Tuesday all square. Much of the credit also belonged to Francisco Rodriguez. The 20-year-old rookie sensation pitched three perfect innings for the victory, making him 5-0 in post-season games.

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