Angels Win as Howell Pulls a Bit of Eddie Murray on Orioles: 2 Homers, 5 RBIs

The chant of “Eddie . . . Eddie . . . Eddie” that Baltimore first baseman Eddie Murray inspired with his three home runs Monday night may have come from an unexpected source--the partisan Angel fans of Anaheim Stadium--but the chant itself was not new to Murray.

Tuesday night, however, the two standing ovations that a Big A crowd of 30,357 gave Jack Howell, the Angels’ rookie third baseman, represented career firsts.

So did the grand slam that inspired the first ovation, led to the dismissal of an Angel pitching nemesis named Scott McGregor and propelled the Angels to a 7-3 victory over the Orioles.

Howell, making his 10th straight start as Doug DeCinces continues to recover from back spasms, capped a five-run second inning with the grand slam, then produced a second standing ovation with a solo homer off Ken Dixon in the fifth.

Howell, leading the Pacific Coast League in hitting when recalled for a second time by the Angels two weeks ago, had only two hits in his last 25 at-bats and was hitting .212 with seven RBIs when he initiated his five-RBI, career-high attack.

The homers were his third and fourth of the season, and the grand slam helped saddle McGregor with only his third loss against 11 wins at Anaheim and only his fifth loss in 23 career decisions against the Angels.

It also helped the Angels extend their American League West lead over Kansas City to 2 1/2 games. This is the same as it was when they embarked on what became a strange, 12-game home stand on which they went 7-5 despite:

--Being outscored, 78-66.

--Hitting only .220.

--Fashioning a 5.45 earned-run average.

Tuesday night, for the second time on the home stand, Mike Witt turned in a tenacious performance, helping the Angels rebound from a tough defeat and from mounting criticism of their pitching.

After the Angels had lost to New York, 13-10, Witt, coming off a bout with shoulder tendinitis that required cortisone, threw 176 pitches in a 3-2 victory over the Yankees.

This time, he helped the Angels rebound from Monday night’s 17-3 embarrassment by restricting the Orioles to three solo runs in six-plus innings. He threw 130 pitches, walked six and allowed 10 hits but forced Baltimore to strand nine runners.

Donnie Moore, whose activity has been reduced some by the success of Stewart Cliburn and the fact that there have been fewer leads to protect, allowed only two singles over the final three innings for his 23rd save, just two shy of the club record.

The Angels got only four hits, but Howell totalled eight bases with two of them. He came up in the ninth with the bases loaded again. A second slam would have duplicated Murray’s three-homer, nine-RBI performance of the previous night, but Howell grounded into a force play against Nate Snell.

“It (a second slam) was going through my mind,” Howell said. “It would have been sensational to get another slam, but basically I just wanted to get another hit.”

Of the slam that capped an inning in which the Angels got three walks and a bloop double by George Hendrick, the 24-year-old Howell said: “I can’t predict that it will make me a great hitter overnight, but it’s a confidence builder to know you can hit up here.

“I’ve been struggling, being overaggressive, lunging at the ball, and I worked on that with (hitting instructor) Moose Stubing yesterday. Reggie Jackson told me when I went to the plate to be patient, to look for a pitch that was down. It was a hanging slider, a pitch that I’ve been getting but fouling off or missing. I was just trying to be patient. It was a great feeling. I think it was my first slam since Little League.”

Bobby Grich had to pull and shove Howell back onto the field to acknowledge that first ovation. “That was a hard thing for me to do,” the shy Howell said. He acknowledged the second on his own, however.

Said Manager Gene Mauch: “I guess I’m as tickled as the kid is. You never know what one big hit or one big play might do. It just might trigger something. It might set the kid off. It was big for him and big for us.”

DeCinces, who is still on a day-to-day basis, didn’t see his replacement’s biggest night. He was ejected from the bench in the first inning for disputing a check swing that wasn’t called a strike.

Juan Beniquez was ejected before the home sixth for initiating an argument with Baltimore catcher Floyd Rayford, who had earlier accused Beniquez of looking over his shoulder at the plate, trying to steal signs. Both were restrained during the brief debate.

Said Mauch later: “The whole game revolved around Witt taking hold of himself in the first inning (when he struck out Larry Sheets with two out and the bases loaded) and the great play Dick Schofield made (turning a Cal Ripken grounder into a double play in the second).”

It also revolved around Jack Howell, who had three costly errors in a game against New York last week but learned the meaning of redemption in this one.

Angel Notes

The Angels, who were forced to put Urbano Lugo on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained left foot after he faced only one batter following his recall last week, were forced to do the same Tuesday with Alan Fowlkes, who made only his second appearance Monday after being purchased from Edmonton last Thursday. Dr. Lewis Yocum determined that Fowlkes, who gave up four homers Monday night, including two to Eddie Murray, has a stress fracture of his right elbow and will require six to eight weeks of rest. Fowlkes said he began experiencing discomfort in his final week at Edmonton and the condition got progressively worse. An Angel spokesman said the club will announce a roster replacement within 48 hours. . . . Manager Gene Mauch said a day off today will allow him to juggle his rotation for the four-game series in New York, which opens Thursday. The key move will be to employ John Candelaria out of the bullpen. It’s not permanent. Candelaria will then start at Detroit, be available for relief at Baltimore and start again against Kansas City at Anaheim. Candelaria loathed his relief role in Pittsburgh but has volunteered for it with the Angels. Said Mauch: “He told me, ‘I’ll start when you want me to and I’ll relieve when you want me to, and you won’t have to look for me in September. I’ll be down there (in the bullpen) every night in case you need me.’ ”