Angels Held to 4 Hits by Petry in Tigers’ Win

And so it came to pass Wednesday night at Anaheim Stadium that the Angels, well-nourished on quality pitching and virtually perfect in one-run games, finally succumbed to the odds and the champion Detroit Tigers.

After receiving a sterling performance from Ron Romanick and a startling one from Kirk McCaskill to win the first two games of the series, the Angels got another able effort from Mike Witt, Doug Corbett and Stu Cliburn. Together, the trio limited the Tigers to three runs and involved the Angels in their 13th one-run game of the season.

But for only the second time this year in such games, the Angels came up on the short end.

Restricted to four hits by the American League’s winningest pitcher, Dan Petry, the Angels lost, 3-2, and saw their three-game winning streak snapped before a crowd of 35,062.

Until Wednesday, the Angels were 11-1 in one-run games--a particularly interesting statistic in light of the club’s history of late-inning bullpen woes.

Questioned about this unusual success, Manager Gene Mauch could focus only on the present. “I liked the other 11 better,” he said.

In baseball, as in other things, all that matters is what you have done lately--and for the Angels, against Petry, that wasn’t much.

The Angels, who remained two games ahead of Minnesota atop the American League West despite the loss, managed just four baserunners against Petry, who did not issue a walk while improving his record to 8-2.

In terms of economy, the Angels did well--scoring on a home run by Jerry Narron and an RBI single by Ruppert Jones. But not well enough.

“Petry takes the sting out of the ball,” Mauch said. “You don’t get too much off him. We hit three balls good all night, and that accounted for our two runs.”

Narron’s third-inning home run, his fourth of the season, surpassing his entire 1984 total, gave the Angels a brief 1-0 lead. A double by Brian Downing and Jones’ single in the seventh accounted for the team’s other run.

But that was all the Angels could manage. And once again, Witt (2-5) managed to wind up a loser on a night when he pitched well enough to win.

Despite owning an earned-run average of just 3.20, Witt leads the Angel pitching staff in defeats.

In the fourth inning, with one out and Alan Trammell on first base, Witt surrendered a single to right to Kirk Gibson. Trammell was easily on his way to third, but right fielder Jones threw to the wrong cut-off man, enabling Gibson to sprint into second.

That placed two Tigers in scoring position, instead of one. And both scored--Trammell on Lance Parrish’s sacrifice fly and Gibson on Darrell Evans’ RBI single.

“They got two runs with some good baserunning,” Mauch said. “We almost got away with the only mistake we made in the whole series. We make one mistake, and it costs us a run.

“It’s a damn shame for Mike to pitch that well and not come away with anything.”

Witt gave up what proved to be the decisive run in the sixth inning on three grounders that made their way into the outfield for hits. After two quick outs, Parrish, Evans and Nelson Simmons delivered in succession, producing the Tigers’ third run.

“The three hits they got with two outs in the sixth were enough to make a grown man cry,” Mauch said. “Those three cheap hits got ‘em a run. That got to all of us.”

Witt, however, was not completely without of good fortune. With the help of slick Angel glovework and some sloppy Tiger baserunning in the eighth, he got away with allowing just three runs on 10 hits in seven-plus innings.

A running catch by Jones, snagging Mike Laga’s liner off his shoetops, prevented further damage in the sixth. And Juan Beniquez’ sprint-and-catch jaunt to the deepest part of the park saved another run in the seventh--robbing Lou Whitaker, with Tom Brookens on first base.

Witt’s worst piece of luck was being paired on this night against Petry. In a matchup of local boys who made good (Petry pitched for Placentia’s El Dorado High, Witt for Anaheim’s Servite High), Petry did a little better.

“He threw only 97 pitches and I thought had great command,” Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson said. “Narron might have been his only bad pitch.”

Said the Angels’ Jones, now an opponent after teaming with Petry to win a World Series in 1984: “He had more than enough to get by.”

Of course, Petry had the proper motivation: Parental approval.

“I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of the home folks,” Petry said. “It used to be a lot more exciting to pitch here because I was real close to my (high school) friends then. The only reason now is my parents. My dad has got to face his friends at work.”

This morning, no doubt, there will be a smile on that face.