Angels Deliver a Few Hits of Their Own and Edge Twins in 10th, 4-3

Limited to nine hits and five runs during the first two games of the new season, the Angels finally gathered some momentum in the late innings of their third game.

They ultimately collected 12 singles and a double Thursday night, rallying for two tying runs in the ninth, then salvaging the series finale with Minnesota in the 10th, 4-3.

Their two biggest hits, though, may have been delivered by Bobby Grich and Ruppert Jones at second base in making sure the Twins didn’t convert what would have been difficult double plays.

An Anaheim Stadium crowd of 24,445 saw Darrell Miller open the 10th against right-hander Rick Lysander by beating out a slow grounder to third. Grich then followed with a sharp single to left, Miller stopping at second.

Jones then hit a soft grounder to second baseman Tim Teufel, who flipped to shortstop Greg Gagne for the force-out on Grich. Gagne had come across the bag and was attempting to take the ball from his glove when he was scissored by the sliding Grich. The Twins demanded an automatic double play, believing Grich had come out of the baseline, but umpire Jim Evans ruled otherwise.

The Angels were left with runners at first and third and one out.

Bob Boone followed with an equally soft grounder to third baseman Gary Gaetti, who had trouble dislodging the ball from his glove. When he finally got it to Teufel at second for the second out, Jones was sliding in on him. Teufel got off his throw, but it was weak and wide, and Miller scored the winning run as Boone reached first safely.

The win went to Donnie Moore, who came back from his disappointing debut Wednesday night to shut out the Twins in the 10th.

Doug Corbett also provided some sound relief, working 2 shutout innings after Jim Slaton, replacing the injured Ken Forsch, restricted the Twins to three hits and three runs over the first 6 innings.

Teufel singled in a run for the Twins in the third, then Tom Brunansky and Mickey Hatcher hit solo homers in the fourth and sixth. It was the second of the series for both. Brunansky has now hit nine homers against the Angels since they traded him in May 1982.

The Angels had only four hits off right-hander John Butcher through six innings, scoring one run in the third on consecutive singles by Dick Schofield, Gary Pettis and Rod Carew.

They then wasted two hits in the seventh and two more in the eighth before tying it against Lysander in the ninth.

Schofield singled with one out and raced to third on a pinch double by Jerry Narron. A Carew ground-out scored Schofield.

Then, with two outs, Brian Downing singled to center to score the tying run.

Said Grich, of the ensuing 10th: “It was an ugly but sweet way to win.”

Said Manager Gene Mauch: “We needed tonight’s win bad, and I didn’t care how we got it.”

Mauch thought it significant that Schofield and Pettis both got their first two hits of 1985, and that Downing was on base four times via a pair of hits and a pair of walks.

Reggie Jackson struck out three times before yielding to pinch-hitter Rob Wilfong in a sacrifice situation in the eighth, but Mauch said later he probably shouldn’t have played Jackson.

“Reggie told me before the game that his vision was somewhat blurred,” Mauch said, “but that he’s had the condition before and it clears up once he gets involved in the game.

“It cleared up for him tonight, but I would have felt like hell if he’d gotten hurt.”

Twin shortstop Roy Smalley did get hurt, straining a hamstring muscle as he took a force-play throw at third on Wilfong’s eighth-inning bunt. It was uncertain if he would be available when the Twins open a three-game series at Seattle tonight.

Angel Notes

In what was billed as a test of the progress he has made in recovering from the calcification in his right elbow, Ken Forsch threw lightly for 10 minutes, then said: “It’s discouraging because I can still feel it. I’m really tired of this. I just want to pitch.” . . . Forsch’s probable return from the 15-day disabled list already has been set back from April 16 to May 1. Even that might be optimistic. “There’s no crystal ball,” Dr. Lewis Yocum said after examining Forsch Thursday night. . . . The Angels left immediately after the game for Oakland, where they open a three-game series tonight.