Angels Collect Six Homers, Lose, 14-9

On a night when capable pitching was at a premium, the Angels and the Oakland A’s found home runs to be a bargain Tuesday, hitting 10 of them during the A’s 14-9 victory in front of 25,921 fans at Anaheim Stadium.

The Angels tied a club record by hitting six home runs, including two by Reggie Jackson, to stay close. Backup catcher Jerry Narron, shortstop Dick Schofield, third baseman Doug DeCinces and second baseman Bobby Grich also contributed to the Angels’ home run derby.

The six home runs equaled the franchise record, set June 20, 1980, against at Boston.

But the A’s countered with four of their own--delivered, in order, by Dave Kingman, Carney Lansford, Dusty Baker and Mike Davis.

That tied another record. The A’s and the Angels combined for seven bases-empty home runs--equaling the major league mark, established by Chicago and Cleveland on June 18, 1980.

The 10 home runs were also the most ever hit in one game at Anaheim Stadium

The postgame scene in the Angels locker room had the look of an outtake from “The Day After.” The bombs had fallen, leaving the Angels stunned and shaken.

“It’s like we should’ve played this game in Lebanon,” Jackson said, “there were so many bombs.”

“I’ve never been on a ball club that has hit six home runs and lost,” Angel Manager Gene Mauch said. “As a matter of fact, I’ve never been on a ballclub that has hit six home runs in one game.”

Added Jackson: “We played a terrible game of baseball and wound up on the short end. Hell, we got killed.

“We didn’t get any pitching, made a few errors ... and they just blew us out. I’ve been playing 20 years and it just goes to show--you just never know.”

Jackson was right about the Angels pitching: It was nowhere to be found.

The A’s offense totalled 15 hits against four Angel pitchers. The first three--Bob Kipper, Luis Sanchez and Doug Corbett--served up little more than batting practice.

Rookie Kipper made his first major league start when Tommy John was forced out of the rotation with a stiff neck.

Kipper and his replacement after 2 innings, Luis Sanchez, may well have been stricken with the same affliction, the way balls were jumping around--and, occasionally, out of--the park.

Between them, Kipper and Sanchez surrendered nine hits and eight runs in five-plus innings. And that’s counting Kipper’s 1-2-3 first inning.

The trouble started immediately in the second inning, when Kingman sent Kipper’s first pitch high over the left field wall. That brought Angel pitching coach Marcel Lachemann to the mound for an early visit.

The talk had little settling effect on Kipper. He continued to pitch like, well, a 20-year-old on center stage for the first time.

Later in the second, when the A’s Mike Heath was attempting to steal second, Kipper mistakenly cut off catcher Bob Boone’s throw to second--apparently thinking it to be just a hard relay to the mound.

And in the third, on an apparent pitchout, Kipper didn’t get his pitch out far enough from the plate--and Dave Collins slapped it into left field for a single.

Two outs, one run and one walk later, Kipper was through for the night. It had been a decidely nervous debut.

On came Sanchez, along with his 13.50 earned run average, and things didn’t get any better. Sanchez promptly yielded a two-run double to Baker and Oakland had opened up a 4-1 lead.

By the end of the following inning, it was 7-1, on a three-run home run by Lansford.

The Angels, however, put together a rally, thanks to some equally ineffective Oakland pitching. In a span of five innings, the Angels tagged starter Mike Warren and reliever Keith Atherton for five home runs, the club’s highest single-game total since 1982.

Jackson had two of them, an opposite field shot in the second inning and a two-run homer into the second deck in right field in the fourth inning.

Narron and Schofield hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning, expediting Warren’s departure two hitters later, and Grich delivered home run No. 5 off Atherton in the sixth--slicing the Angels’ deficit to 9-6.

Two outs into the seventh inning, with Juan Beniquez on second base after doubling home Rod Carew, the A’s brought on their third pitcher, Tim Conroy. Conroy pitched to just one batter, Jackson, but got into heaps of trouble.

First, he wild pitched Beniquez to third. Then, after walking Jackson, Conroy took his eye off Heath’s relay back to the mound. The ball bounced off Conroy’s chest and toward first base, enabling an alert Beniquez to sprint home for the Angels’ eighth run.

That made it 9-8 and the Angels, despite all their early pitching problems, were poised for a comeback.

Then, Corbett stepped to the mound for the eighth inning.

The A’s scored five runs in the eighth, with Baker and Davis adding a pair of home runs. Before Pat Clements could come on to retire Donnie Hill for the third out, Oakland had broken the game back open--making DeCinces’ solo home run in the ninth inning meaningless.

Angel Notes

Reggie Jackson hit two home runs in one game for the 37th time in his career, tying him with Mike Schmidt, Stan Musial and Ted Williams for 19th on the major-league list for most multiple home run games. “You sleep a little better for selfish reason,” Jackson said of his double-home run effort, “but we got killed and we didn’t play a good game.” ... A’s Manager Jackie Moore said the key to his team’s victory was getting starting pitcher Bob Kipper out of the game so quickly. “If you get to their starters as fast as possible, they’re hurting,” Moore said. “That’s no secret.” ... Gary Pettis, hurting with stiffness in his lower back, which caused him to miss Monday’s game, was back in the lineup Tuesday. He went 0-for-4 with a walk and a run scored.... In today’s 1 p.m. series finale, Ron Romanick (2-0) opposes Chris Codiroli (2-1).