In the eighth inning of Seattle's 5-2 win, Rivera went to the wall in front of the Angels' bullpen, put his right foot on the thigh-high padding on the fence for extra lift and stretched out his glove hand to catch Russell Branyan's drive.
Three pitches later, Jose Lopez sent a drive to left field, Rivera made a similar effort but came up just short of Lopez's home run.
Asked whether he thought Rivera, never a Gold Glove Award contender, was that athletic, Scioscia said, "No." But, the manager added, "That catch was as good as you can make."
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Short hops
Rudy Seanez, who signed a minor league contract with the Angels in mid-May, joined the Salt Lake club Friday after spending a week and a half at the team's extended spring training camp in Arizona. The 40-year-old reliever went 5-4 with a 3.53 ERA in 42 games for Philadelphia last season and could join the Angels in June.
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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com
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ANGELS TODAY
VS. SEATTLE
Where: Angel Stadium.
When: 12:30.
On the air: Channel 13. Radio: 830, 1330.
Pitchers: Ervin Santana vs. Garrett Olson.
Update: This is an important game for Santana, who would go a long way toward squashing the questions about his arm with a strong start. His last game, a one-inning effort in which he gave up seven runs and nine hits in a 17-3 loss to Chicago White Sox, did nothing but raise doubt about whether Santana had fully recovered from an elbow ligament sprain that sidelined him for the first six weeks of the season. Olson, who threw six shutout innings against San Francisco in his last start, on May 23, beat the Angels in his first career start, on July 27, giving up two runs and seven hits in six innings for Baltimore.
-- Mike DiGiovanna
