DeCinces Strands Twins This Time; Angels Win, 9-1

The bases were loaded in the sixth inning of a 1-1 game Saturday. Doug DeCinces had a 3-and-0 count and was thinking about:

--The hit sign he had just been given.

--The seven runners he had stranded Friday night.

--The intentional walk Rod Carew received ahead of him.

--The Angels’ puzzling struggle for runs here.

DeCinces responded with a bases-clearing double that highlighted a five-run inning and lifted the Angels to a 9-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

“Sometimes, a key hit in certain situations can turn things around,” DeCinces said. “I feel particularly good because I think this may have been one of those hits.”

Ruppert Jones put the game away with a bases-loaded triple off Pete Filson in the ninth. But it was DeCinces’ double off loser Mike Smithson that enabled the Angels to enjoy their biggest inning since July 5, erasing the distaste of Friday night, when they scored only one run despite 13 hits, and providing the necessary support to three-hit pitching by Kirk McCaskill.

DeCinces, speaking of his 0-for-4 Friday night, said: “What made it particularly frustrating for me was that I struck out twice on pitches that would have been the fourth ball. I don’t see the ball well here, and that tends to make me overanxious and frustrated in itself.

“In fact, I woke up at 6:15 this morning and analyzed my swing for 45 minutes before I went back to sleep. I told myself to be comfortable, to think about hitting the ball the other way.”

Smithson held a 1-0 lead when Brian Downing walked to open the sixth. Downing scored the tying run on ensuing singles by Rob Wilfong and Jones, who emerged with 4 RBIs, giving him 54 for the season, two behind team leader DeCinces.

A ground-out advanced Wilfong and Jones, prompting Minnesota Manager Ray Miller to walk Carew intentionally. Miller said he would do it again.

“Carew is a Hall of Famer,” he said. “I don’t think there was any way of preventing him from driving in the go-ahead run one way or another. With DeCinces, we were looking for him to hit into a double play. The way McCaskill pitches against us, I didn’t want to give up even one run.”

Said DeCinces: “Even though an intentional walk may be the best move at the time, I take it as a personal challenge. I look on it as if they’re saying, ‘We want this guy on base because we think we can pitch to you.’ ”

Smithson threw breaking pitches, all called balls. Smithson said he thought they were all strikes. “Now, I had to throw a fastball to a fastball hitter,” he said. “The count made him 50% better than he is.”

Said Angel Manager Gene Mauch: “I don’t know if I’d have let him hit (on a 3-and-0 pitch) if the pitcher had been wild all day, but Smithson throws strikes, and the whole world knew he’d get a fastball. The pitcher, the catcher, even you guys in the press box knew it.”

Mauch, asked if the tough night DeCinces experienced Friday influenced his thinking, said: “I was just trying to do what’s best for the situation. Doug needed a lift. We all needed a lift. I wanted an inning. I wanted him to knock in some runs. If he had lined into a double play, it wouldn’t have been too smart.”

DeCinces, batting .302 in the last 18 games, lined the double into the left-field corner.

“Gene was looking for something big,” he said of the hit sign. “He wasn’t just thinking of taking advantage of a walk. He was saying to me that he had confidence I could get a pitch I could drill.”

An ensuing bloop single by Bob Boone scored DeCinces for a 5-1 lead and chased Smithson (11-9) in favor of Filson, who shut out the Angels until the ninth. Then Jones delivered his bases-loaded triple, and scored on a fielder’s choice after Rick Lysander replaced Filson on the mound for the Twins.

The productivity of the 11-hit attack made it easy for McCaskill, who retired the final 12 Twins in order and was scored on only when Randy Bush homered in the fifth.

The 24-year-old McCaskill, once 0-4, is now 8-7. The last two victories have come against the Twins, whom he beat, 3-1, on Aug. 2 at Anaheim, allowing just two hits in 8 innings.

“I like it when a guy comes right back against the same team and does it again,” Mauch said.

Said McCaskill, of the consecutive assignments: “It can work either way. They probably wanted to beat my brains out, but my stuff was as good as the last time, and I went with the same game plan. I was surprised that they didn’t make any adjustments against me, but that reinforces my thinking that if I have good stuff, I should be able to pitch against anyone.”

Angel Notes Brian Downing lifted his hitting streak to 11 games as he singled twice, walked and scored two runs. Downing is batting .452 during the streak and .257 overall, improving his average from .194 on June 21. . . . The complete game was Kirk McCaskill’s fourth in 19 starts. . . . The Angels have the American League’s third best day record, 23-14, although it’s hard to distinguish day from night in the Metrodome. . . . Ruppert Jones is batting .337 over the last 29 games and .279 overall, second on the club to Juan Beniquez, who is at .294. . . . The Twins put shortstop Greg Gagne on the 15-day disabled list with a back strain and recalled Alvaro Espinoza from Toledo. . . . The Angels are 8-4 against Minnesota. . . . John Candelaria (0-0 with the Angels) will pitch against John Butcher (8-10) in today’s series finale (Channel 5 at 11:15 a.m. PDT).