SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Hector Santiago struck out six while pitching into the fifth inning and Cliff Pennington had two more hits for the Los Angeles Angels in a 4-all, nine-inning tie with the Colorado Rockies on Thursday.
Santiago allowed four hits and a lone run on Tom Murphy’s solo homer to center on a 95 mph, 0-2 fastball to lead off the third.
Santiago was lifted after giving up Rafael Ynoa’s second hit and a walk with one out in the fifth. He said after his fourth spring start that there’s “probably a spot for me” in the rotation.
“A good workout for him,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
Pennington, a free-agent pickup, went 2 for 3 with an RBI and raised his average to .393.
Johnny Giavotella had two hits for the Angels, including a two-run double in the first off Rockies prospect Jeff Hoffman.
The top five hitters in the Colorado starting lineup went 0 for 13.
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Angels: Santiago balked a runner to third before striking out Brandon Barnes to end the fourth. He threw 46 of 78 pitches for strikes, and said Murphy’s home run came on a pitch out of the strike zone.
“He just got it up in the breeze,” Santiago said. “I think it was a little bit of an Arizona thing, where the ball flies.”
Rockies: Hoffman, sent to minor league camp last week, was torched for four runs and eight hits while walking two and getting eight outs.
Rotation candidate Jon Gray followed and struck out three in four scoreless innings.
“Good outing by Jonny,” Colorado manager Walt Weiss said.
Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado didn’t play. That allowed others to gawk at his numbers.
The 24-year-old Arenado entered the day with the most hits (16), highest batting average (.593) and best OPS (1.512) in the majors.
“He puts in a lot of work, so I’m not surprised,” teammate Carlos Gonzalez said. “I think he’s becoming a great player because he picks whatever is going to help him from each player around him.”
Rockies left fielder Ryan Raburn had a wild first inning. After being unable to make a running catch of Giavotella’s fly ball that was ruled a double, he made a spectacular grab of Ji-Man Choi’s foul fly before falling over the railing into the Angels’ bullpen
