CHICAGO — If Ervin Santana were a boxer, his corner man would have broken out the smelling salts in the third inning Thursday. The pitcher's eyes looked puffy, his knees wobbly. He was clearly on the ropes.
Santana gave up a three-run home run to Jayson Nix in the second and walked Mark Kotsay with the bases loaded and one out to force in a run in the third.
The Chicago White Sox seemed poised for a knockout, but Angels Manager Mike Scioscia refused to hurl a white towel onto the field.
"That's a decision you don't want to make, taking your starter out that early, because it really affects what's going to happen down the road this week," Scioscia said.
"You want to give him every opportunity to pitch a little deeper into the game and settle down, but if it keeps going the wrong way . . . you're going to have to make a move."
Scioscia remained in the dugout, and Santana rewarded his manager's faith, striking out Nix looking at a full-count slider and getting Chris Getz to ground back to the mound.
Santana added three scoreless innings, and the Angels broke out of a two-game mini-slump with four home runs in a 9-5 victory over the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.
Catcher Jeff Mathis, who began the game with a .197 batting average, hit a two-run home run in the second inning, and Vladimir Guerrero (third), Bobby Abreu (fifth) and Erick Aybar (ninth) added solo shots.
After scoring six runs and having only 11 hits, 10 of them singles, in two losses, the Angels broke out for 11 hits, five for extra bases Thursday.
Santana's line -- six innings, five hits, four runs, five walks, seven strikeouts -- wasn't impressive, but he survived another shaky start to improve to 4-6 and lower his earned-run average to 7.20.
Santana, who sat out two months this season because of elbow injuries, has seemed tentative in the first few innings of almost all of his starts, as if he's afraid to cut his fastball loose.
Opponents are batting .342 and have scored 39 of their 58 runs against Santana in the first three innings. They are batting .291 with 15 runs in innings four, five and six. Santana has given up 54 of his 90 hits in the first three innings.
"Ervin needs to get into his game and throw the ball like he can from the first out until he's done," Scioscia said. "Until that happens, he's going to struggle. He's in control. He's got to get out there and do it."
